@ocean
That is my understanding.
This is also what @feditips writes:
”Hashtag following is technically a filter for your server’s Federated timeline. It will only show posts that your server would have noticed anyway.
If you want to make your server notice more posts about particular topics, try joining a group instead. Groups actively share new posts to your timeline, even if your server hasn’t noticed them yet.”
https://fedi.tips/how-do-i-follow-hashtags-on-mastodon-and-the-fediverse/