Every time Elon Musk tweets, anything can happen. It could either result in a feud with President of the US or shock marketers with another update.

On June 26, 2025, he announced that, starting June 27, hashtags will not be allowed in paid posts on X (formerly Twitter).

Starting tomorrow, the esthetic nightmare that is hashtags will be banned from ads on 𝕏

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 26, 2025

Musk says hashtags make ads look messy. From tomorrow on, any promoted post—text, image, video, or carousel—containing a hashtag will be rejected. He also plans to charge advertisers based on how much vertical screen space their ad takes up.

Regular tweets are not affected. You can still use hashtags there, and X’s AI assistant, Grok, even suggests using one or two to boost reach.

Some brands worry they will lose a simple tool to reach niche audiences. Others welcome the change, saying ads will look cleaner and fit better in people’s feeds.

What to do now? Remove hashtags from all paid ads, use strong images and clear copy, and try different ad sizes to find what works best. You can still use one or two hashtags in your organic tweets to stay discoverable.