Users of X spot a strange animated arm pointing at the post promotion button
An animated arm briefly appears in the X app's post composer and points at the "promote" button. The company has not commented publicly on the change.
Some users of the social network X are seeing a short animation in the app's post composer: an arm appears on screen and points at the "promote" button, which lets users pay to boost a post. Several users shared posts and screenshots about it on October 27. The change does not seem to have reached every account yet.
The "promote" button shows up in the composer for accounts with a paid X Premium subscription. The random nature of the animation has left users confused, and some are asking whether the company is that eager for promoted posts or whether it is a prank. X has not commented publicly.
User reactions
One user said the arm startled them as they were about to publish their usual daily greeting, and asked whether they would have to ignore it every time they post. Another joked that product managers often want to simply point at the button users should click, but instead spend time designing subtle nudges. A third said the arm appeared when they were about to post a photo of their new phone.
Possible explanations
The arm's appearance roughly coincides with X hiring Peter Sellis as its new head of product. He replaces Nikita Bier and previously held similar roles at Discord and Snap. In his post announcing he was joining X, Sellis wrote that "it's time to make shitposting multiplanetary." Whether he is behind the arm is unknown, and he has not publicly commented on it.
It could also be a Halloween prank. That is the theory floated by Grok, X's chatbot, which told one user the hand is real rather than a glitch, and that many users got the same jumpscare that day. There is no official word on whether it is intentional design or Halloween timing. A representative for X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
