"But the signs are definitely there: my first indicator was when TikTok removed view counts from hashtags in February 2024, making it harder to judge the popularity of a given trend. This summer, they went another step further and limited each post to only five hashtags. Meanwhile, the digital landscape of X today would be completely alien to a Twitter user ten years ago."
"In truth, the hashtag is a form of control: a tool of user agency over content distribution. As a type of metadata, it wasn't controlled by a platform-it was created by the people, for the people. Every time you used a hashtag, you were voting on how that idea should be classified. Meanings regularly shifted with community priorities, and new definitions rhizomatically emerged with the"
Major social platforms are restricting hashtag functionality, removing visibility metrics and capping the number of tags per post. TikTok removed hashtag view counts and limited posts to five hashtags; X forbids hashtags in advertisements and throttles posts with multiple tags. LinkedIn, Instagram, and Threads are similarly de-emphasizing or limiting tags. Algorithms now infer metadata via NLP and computer vision, reducing the technical need for user-applied hashtags. Hashtags historically served as user-created metadata that enabled collective categorization and shifting community meanings. Removing hashtags centralizes classification power with platforms and diminishes user agency over content distribution and discovery.
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