Instagram Waves Goodbye to Hashtag Following
Instagram is making a change that might surprise some users—it’s removing the option to follow hashtags. If you’ve enjoyed seeing posts and Reels from hashtags you follow, those days are numbered. According to a notification shared by social media expert Matt Navarra, any topics you already follow will stop showing up in your feed.
What’s Behind the Change?
It seems this move is Instagram’s way of combating spam. Hashtag abuse is a long-standing issue, with spammers hijacking popular or trending tags to boost their reach, often resulting in irrelevant or low-quality content popping up in feeds. While Instagram has advanced tools to weed out the junk, it looks like they’re still not enough to tackle the problem fully.
Instead of continuing to fight the battle, Instagram is cutting the feature altogether. Removing hashtag-following eliminates the clutter from your main feed, though spammy posts might still appear in Explore or search results.
A Boost for Creators?
This change could also encourage users to follow individual creators directly. Supporting creators is a key focus for Instagram, as they rely on their content to keep the app engaging. Pushing people to follow creators instead of hashtags might help strengthen that relationship.
Are Hashtags Losing Their Shine?
This feels like another sign that hashtags aren’t as vital as they used to be. As Instagram’s algorithms have improved, they’re better at recognizing what’s in a post—be it a video, image, or text—and delivering more of what users enjoy based on their activity. Hashtags now play a smaller role in content discovery and engagement.
That’s good news for tackling spam and ensuring users see relevant content, even if a creator doesn’t tag their post perfectly. However, for some, it feels like the end of an era—a farewell to one of the fundamental features that made social media what it is.
Hashtags Aren’t Gone Just Yet
To be clear, hashtags are still alive and well on Instagram. You can still use them in your posts, search with them, and discover related content. But their role in content discovery is steadily shrinking.
In a statement shared with Social Media Today, Instagram confirmed:
“We’re removing the ability to follow a hashtag on Instagram. You will still be able to use hashtags in your posts and search with a hashtag to discover related posts. We’ll continue to show you posts that are relevant to your interests via recommendations in Feed, Explore, and Reels.”
While it’s a small adjustment, it’s another step in Instagram’s evolution, shifting the way users connect with content and creators. What do you think about the change?