The info is not about Palps, it’s can be about rumors of a hidden Imperial fleet. Or whatever else. Do we ever really see any messages in Star Wars except for Leia’s original one? 😉
To me that scene has always felt like it has been there to establish Hux’s role in the film.
Opening with the secret message scene is very reminding of a James Bond opening where we see him on the end of a different mission
The only thing about that though is that when Poe and crew get back that’s what sets off the mission to find the Wayfinder. Poe gathers everyone together and says “I don’t know how, but Palpatine has returned…” and we get the weird line about “dark science, cloning… secrets only the Sith knew” etc. Would you cut around these lines in this scene too?