Elon Musk Bans Hashtags in X Ads, Citing Aesthetic Concerns

Elon Musk, the CEO of X, posted a major update about the advertising policies of the platform, stating that hashtag will be forbidden to be used with paid ads, as of today June 27, 2025. On X, Musk referred to the subject of hashtags as an embarrassment of aesthetic proportions, and the decision to eliminate it is rooted in making the ad industry look better overall. This ruling however applies to paid promotion leaving ordinary user posts intact.

• Elon Musk Bans Hashtags in X Ads to Promote Sleek, AI-Driven Design
• X Ads Go Hashtag-Free: Elon Musk’s Bold Move Aims for Cleaner Aesthetic
• Elon Musk Drops Hashtags from Paid Ads on X, Sparking Mixed Reactions

Since their inception in 2007 as a feature of social media, mainly on Twitter, hashtags have also become a common tool among advertisers to increase awareness and make their advertising content relevant to trending topics. The step taken by Musk can be said to be part of what he is hoping to change when it comes to the user experience of X, to focus more on sleek design rather than marketing tools. He proposes that the superior AI software of X with the help of the Grok chatbot introduced by xAI can sort and present contents without the use of hashtags, which make them redundant to advertisements.

There has been reaction to the decision. Marketers and some users are capitalizing on the change and believe that hashtags frequently make their promotional materials look cluttered. One X user, picking up on the same sentiment as Musk, said that hashtags in advertisements were the Comic Sans of social media. Other parties especially smaller corporations and Internet marketers are anxious that the ban will restrain them to micro-audiences selection or participation in acclaimed trends, which may affect the effectiveness of their campaigns.

Musk has a history of criticizing hashtags, including in December 2024, when he termed them as ugly and urged its users to leave them altogether, saying that the AI-powered discovery mechanisms put in place by X were adequate enough. Grok has also stated that even though the ads are banned, hashtags can still be used in case of ordinary posts, as long as there are no more than two tags relevant to the post at a time to avoid the risk of looking spammy.