Rubaha Akram2025-11-172025-11-172025https://escholar.umt.edu.pk/handle/123456789/10167This study investigates the semiotic significance of hashtags within the framework of Michel Foucault’s theory of power, with a particular focus on their role in shaping digital discourse. Hashtags have evolved from simple categorization tools into powerful socio-technical symbols that influence visibility, participation, and control on social media platforms, especially Twitter. Using a qualitative–quantitative approach, this research collected responses from 70 university students through a structured questionnaire comprising 22 items. Descriptive and inferential analyses were applied to examine how users perceive the relationship between hashtags and power dynamics online. The findings reveal that hashtags simultaneously operate as mechanisms of empowerment and instruments of regulation: while they provide marginalized groups with opportunities for visibility and activism, they also normalize dominant narratives and enable subtle forms of surveillance. The results support Foucault’s notion that power is not centralized but dispersed, functioning through everyday discursive practices. This study contributes to existing scholarship by highlighting the dual role of hashtags as both tools of resistance and channels of control, thereby advancing our understanding of digital semiotics and contemporary power relations.Thesis