X officially bans hashtags in all promoted posts

X has officially banned the use of hashtags in all promoted posts on the platform.

The new rule, announced by Elon Musk on Thursday, takes immediate effect and applies to all forms of paid content, including video adverts, image carousels, and text-based promotions.

“Hashtags in ads are an aesthetic nightmare. They make the screen look messy and take attention away from the main message,” Musk wrote on X.

The decision is part of a broader push to streamline the visual experience for users, with Musk stating that the goal is to make adverts feel more organic within the feed.

Under the new policy, any advertisement containing even a single hashtag will be rejected.

While regular, non-promoted posts remain unaffected, with users still encouraged to use hashtags to join trending conversations or niche communities, advertisers must now pivot away from a long-standing digital marketing staple.

Hashtags have been a cornerstone of social media marketing for more than a decade, often used to boost visibility during product launches, events, and brand challenges.

Their removal from X’s advertising ecosystem marks a significant shift in how marketers will need to approach campaign visibility and engagement.

“It’s a big change,” said Emily Zhao, digital strategist at BrightHub.

“We’ll need to rethink how we drive virality without hashtags. It puts more pressure on creative execution and placement.”

Advertisers are now expected to rely more heavily on high-quality visuals, concise and compelling copy, and the platform’s increasingly sophisticated AI-powered targeting tools.

New advert pricing based on vertical screen size

In a further update revealed this morning, Musk confirmed that X will begin pricing advertisements according to the amount of vertical screen space they occupy.

Adverts that take up a larger portion of the display, such as full-height videos or images , will cost more than compact formats.

“X is moving to charging for ads based on vertical size. So an ad that takes up the whole screen would cost more than an ad that takes up a quarter of the screen. Otherwise, the incentive is to create giant ads that impair the user experience,” Musk posted.

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This change comes in response to growing concerns about oversized, disruptive adverts that interrupt the scrolling experience, particularly on mobile.

The platform has already seen a shift away from traditional 16:9 formats in favour of 1.91:1 carousels, with the new pricing model expected to accelerate this trend.

Brands seeking visibility on X will now need to balance screen presence with cost efficiency, relying more on storytelling and precision targeting in the absence of hashtags.