In recent discussions, people point to https://drafts.csswg.org/css-ui-3/#cursor (or the equivalent in older CSS specs) as evidence that cursor: pointer should only ever be used for links (in the context of opinionated articles such as https://medium.com/simple-human/buttons-shouldnt-have-a-hand-cursor-b11e99ca374b)

pointer
The cursor is a pointer that indicates a link.

It would be good to clarify if this is meant to mean it should only ever be used for links only (which I seriously doubt is the intention), or if that is given more as an example, e.g. "The cursor is a pointer that generally indicates a link. Often rendered as a hand with a pointing finger." just to soften the language and make clear that it's not making some sort of normative statement implying that it should never be used for other things / to give a more generic "this is clickable" visual hint (whether it's good/necessary or not is an argument left to the reader)