Elon Musk's hashtag ban on X advertisements sparks online frenzy: Netizens divided over 'aesthetic nightmare'

Economic Times

4 hours ago

Agencies In a surprising move, Elon Musk has removed hashtags from ads on X, arguing that they're visually unappealing and obsolete due to AI advancements.
In a move that has stirred both applause and confusion, Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X (formerly Twitter), has announced that hashtags will be banned from all advertisements on the platform starting immediately. Calling them an 'aesthetic nightmare,' Musk's decision signals yet another shift in the evolving social media landscape under his leadership.
The announcement was made via a post on X, where Musk bluntly stated, 'Starting tomorrow, the aesthetic nightmare that is hashtags will be banned from ads on X.' While the decision seems confined to advertisements, leaving regular user posts untouched, it still raises significant questions about the future of trend discovery and digital marketing on the platform.
Hashtags have long served as the connective tissue of social media, allowing users to search, group, and join trending conversations. Introduced on Twitter in 2007, they revolutionized real-time discourse, from #MeToo to #BlackLivesMatter and countless brand campaigns in between.
However, Musk has consistently voiced his distaste for the ubiquitous symbol. In 2024, he urged users to stop using hashtags entirely, stating: 'Please stop using hashtags. The system doesn't need them anymore and they look ugly.' According to Musk, the platform's AI-powered recommendation engine, Grok, is now capable of clustering content without relying on hashtags, making them obsolete.
Musk's justification leans heavily on X's use of artificial intelligence. He claims that Grok, the platform's AI chatbot, can analyze and categorize content more accurately than hashtags ever could. This, he argues, makes the visual clutter of '#Everything' both unnecessary and undesirable—especially in ad content that aims for premium visual appeal.
Yet critics worry this could backfire. For brands that rely on hashtags to ride viral trends or improve visibility, the move could complicate targeted advertising strategies. Some fear that without hashtags, ad discoverability may dip, especially in event-based or time-sensitive campaigns. As with most Musk decisions, the hashtag ban ignited debate. Supporters praised the move as a design upgrade. One user commented, 'Cleaner, sharper, more premium vibes incoming.' Another agreed, 'This is the right move.' But not everyone was impressed. 'Are you kidding me? Hashtags are the lifeblood of X! Banning them from ads is like banning oxygen from the air,' one outraged user wrote. Another user pointed out, 'Hashtags don't work—I don't know why so many people still use them,' suggesting the algorithm might already be doing the heavy lifting behind the scenes.
While the hashtag ban applies only to advertisements for now, Musk's long-standing disdain for the format suggests a deeper shift in platform philosophy. In a digital age where aesthetic appeal increasingly battles for dominance over functionality, the decision prompts a larger question: will discoverability adapt to AI or suffer without the familiar pound sign? As X continues to redefine itself under Musk's vision—less a public square, more a tech-forward media platform—brands may need to rethink how they catch the digital wave. Without the trusty # in their toolkit, the future of trend-chasing could look very different.