I don’t entirely agree with this.
I think we’ve confused hashtags not being the reach hack they used to be with hashtags no longer having any value.
Hashtags still serve a purpose in content categorisation, search and discoverability, and community building.
For instance, branded and campaign hashtags can help people find conversations around a particular event or initiative. Niche hashtags can also connect content to specific interests and communities.
And there is platform-specific evidence for this.
X’s own Help Centre explains that hashtags index topics and help posts appear in relevant searches. TikTok also recommends using relevant hashtags to help content reach people interested in that subject.
However, neither platform promises that adding more hashtags will automatically increase your reach. And I think that’s an important distinction.
What has changed is that platforms now have several other ways of understanding and distributing content. Your captions, keywords, visuals, engagement and audience behaviour all contribute.
So no, I wouldn’t rely on hashtags to make a post perform. But I wouldn’t discard them from a content strategy either.
Perhaps the real conversation is about using hashtags with intention rather than treating them as a shortcut to reach.