On June 26, 2025, Elon Musk announced a significant change to the advertising policy on X, stating that hashtags will be banned from all advertisements on the platform starting June 27, 2025. Musk described hashtags as an ”esthetic nightmare,” citing their visual clutter as the primary reason for the decision. This move marks a continuation of Musk’s efforts to reshape X’s user interface and content discovery system since acquiring the platform in 2022 for $44 billion. The ban applies exclusively to advertisements, allowing regular users to continue using hashtags in personal posts. Musk emphasized that X’s advanced AI tools, including the Grok system, will handle content categorization and ad discovery, eliminating the need for traditional hashtags. This policy shift follows Musk’s earlier statement in December 2024, where he urged users to stop using hashtags, arguing they are outdated and unnecessary due to AI improvements. The change aims to enhance the visual clarity of ads, with pricing adjustments based on ad size—full-screen ads will cost more than those occupying a quarter of the screen—to encourage better user experience. No specific data on the impact on ad revenue or user engagement was provided, but the decision reflects Musk’s ongoing influence on X’s operational framework. The policy is set to take effect at midnight on June 27, 2025, aligning with Musk’s focus on leveraging technology to redefine social media norms.
34news.online
34news.online
