Elon Musk has announced that hashtags will be removed from advertisements on X, calling them an “aesthetic nightmare.” The billionaire entrepreneur and owner of the platform, formerly known as Twitter, stated that starting tomorrow, hashtags will no longer be permitted in ad content. While the announcement left many users puzzled, it appears that the restriction applies only to sponsored posts, not regular user content. Musk has long expressed his distaste for hashtags, previously labelling them as “ugly” and urging users to avoid them.
In 2024, Musk emphasized that the platform’s evolving AI tools, including the chatbot Grok, have eliminated the need for traditional hashtags. According to him, the updated discovery and search systems on X no longer rely on hashtags to organize or surface content. “Please stop using hashtags. The system doesn’t need them anymore and they look ugly,” Musk had remarked at the time. This latest change is part of Musk’s broader overhaul of the platform since acquiring it in late 2022, as he continues to reshape the user experience.
The announcement has sparked mixed reactions from users. While some welcomed the move, calling hashtags in ads the “Comic Sans of social media,” others criticized the decision, suggesting there are more pressing issues to address. “Fix account-level shadow bans instead,” one user commented, questioning Musk’s priorities. Despite the divided opinions, this marks another step in Musk’s vision of streamlining the aesthetic and functionality of X.
