By default, modernize-use-auto check will retain stars when replacing an explicit type with auto: MyType *t = new MyType; will be changed to auto *t = new MyType;, thus resulting in more consistency with the recommendations to use auto * for iterating over pointers in range-based for loops: http://llvm.org/docs/CodingStandards.html#beware-unnecessary-copies-with-auto
The new RemoveStars option allows to revert to the old behavior: with the new option turned on the check will change MyType *t = new MyType; to auto t = new MyType;.