So... X (Formerly Twitter) Just Banned Hashtags in Ads
Okay, so here’s the latest update from Elon Land: hashtags are officially banned in promoted posts on X (yep, the artist formerly known as Twitter).
Honestly? Kinda random. Kinda not.
Elon Musk announced that starting immediately, hashtags will no longer be allowed in ads, because (his words, not mine) they’re an “esthetic nightmare.” 😅 Apparently, he’s going for a cleaner, more responsive look in the feed—which I guess we can all appreciate—but banning hashtags altogether? Feels a bit dramatic, right?
But here’s the thing: this isn’t entirely out of left field. Twitter’s old ad team had been quietly telling brands for years that hashtags might not be the smartest move in paid content. Why? Because if you’re spending money to get clicks on your website or boost conversions, the last thing you want is someone clicking on a hashtag and going off on a wild goose chase through unrelated content. Makes sense.
Here’s how they put it:
“Hashtags link to all the other mentions of that phrase, and are useful if you’re focused on engagement. 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.”
So, is this a wild new rule Elon cooked up in the middle of the night? Technically, no. Is it probably driven by his personal aesthetic preferences? Absolutely yes.
And listen, this wouldn’t be the first time he’s made a platform-wide change based on how something looks. Remember when he wanted to strip out all the reply, like, and share buttons from posts to make things “cleaner”? That one kinda flopped in testing, and now it’s optional instead of forced. (Thank goodness.)
So yeah, this hashtag ad ban might not make or break your campaign, but it’s one of those small changes that could trip up marketers who like to promote branded hashtags or run hashtag-driven campaigns. If that’s you, time to rethink how you’re packaging your ads.
Bottom line? If you're running ads on X, skip the hashtag. Keep your CTA clean, clickable, and hashtag-free... at least for now.
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Hey there I’m Kylie Simao, owner of a boutique social media marketing agency dedicated to helping new, local and small businesses who want to promote themselves online using social media.