Many organizations employ recruitment strategies to attract applicants from diverse backgrounds. However, these strategies can backfire when organizations inaccurately portray its diversity leading to perceptions of inconsistency and dishonesty (e Leon et al., 2024; Kroeper et al., 2022; Kutlaca & Radke, 2023; Wilton et al., 2020). Our study explores how the impact of diversity messaging extends to the context of social media recruitment. The findings provide empirical evidence of how contrasting diversity messages can signal a sense of threat to minoritized applicants and highlight the importance of authentic representation of diversity during recruitment.