This study done by Diamond-Smith et al. examined the use of social media platforms to recruit Native American and Mesoamerican Indigenous individuals in California for a survey on COVID-19 vaccination and social networks. The team tested several different recruitment methods between 2024 and 2025 including paid advertisements on Facebook and Instagram, outreach through community organizations, and the use of a pre-existing research panel. The survey was adapted for short attention spans on mobile devices and pilot-tested with community advisors for cultural relevance. Despite these efforts, only 137 Native American and 72 Mesoamerican Indigenous participants were recruited, falling quite short of the target sample. A major obstacle that researchers encountered during this study was fraudulent entries: of more than 5,000 total responses, nearly 80% were excluded because they appeared automated or insincere. Although researchers utilized CAPTCHAs and honeypot questions, the bots were able to bypass this preventative measure. Free-text responses proved more useful in screening out invalid data, but the process was resource-intensive. The researchers concluded that rapidly advancing AI-driven fraud makes social media recruitment increasingly unreliable.