Yeah I agree. I think these hashtags are a waste of time if the purpose is to get more views. That's not how SEO works at all. People don't search for a particular-sized channel. Most viewers don't care about the size of a channel so long as the content is good. I'm guessing the only people who would use or click on these hashtags are the same small channels who are using them on their own videos.... and I doubt they are clicking on anyone else's videos anyway.
I think a better use of a small Youtuber's time would be to improve their content and use tags, hashtags and SEO titles and descriptions of terms that actually describe their CONTENT.