In another controversial move, X (formerly Twitter) has announced that it will no longer allow hashtags in promoted posts, a decision that seems driven more by personal preference than advertiser demand.
X owner Elon Musk confirmed the change on Tuesday, calling hashtags in ads an “esthetic nightmare” and saying the ban would take effect immediately.
“Starting tomorrow, the esthetic nightmare that is hashtags will be banned from ads on X,” Musk wrote.
While the decision has raised some eyebrows, it’s not without precedent. Even before Musk’s takeover, Twitter’s advertising team had long advised brands against using hashtags in promoted posts — arguing that hashtags tend to distract users from the intended call-to-action.
“Hashtags link to all the other mentions of that phrase, and are useful if you’re focused on engagement,” the platform previously noted. “But, if your goal is to have people go to your website or follow your account, you don’t want to risk someone clicking on a hashtag instead of your call-to-action.”
However, banning hashtags outright — rather than simply discouraging them — eliminates the option for brands to promote branded or campaign-specific hashtags that could complement other marketing efforts.
This isn’t the first time Musk has made changes to X’s platform based on aesthetic considerations. Earlier this year, he pushed to remove all in-feed engagement buttons (reply, like, and share) in favor of swipe gestures. That change was later walked back after feedback, though users can still opt in to the more minimalist interface if they prefer.
Whether removing hashtags from ads will improve overall ad performance remains unclear. For some campaigns, hashtags help drive conversation and brand visibility, while in others they may indeed detract from the desired action.
At the very least, the ban is unlikely to make a significant difference for most advertisers — but it does reflect Musk’s hands-on approach to reshaping X’s user and advertiser experience according to his vision.
For advertisers who rely on branded hashtags as part of their campaigns, this change means rethinking how they engage audiences on X moving forward.