[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #63451: Flag emoji rendering issue on Windows environment

[WordPress Trac]

#63451: Flag emoji rendering issue on Windows environment
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 Reporter:  kimjiwoon     |      Owner:  (none)
     Type:  defect (bug)  |     Status:  new
 Priority:  normal        |  Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Emoji         |    Version:
 Severity:  normal        |   Keywords:
  Focuses:                |
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 **Title:**
 Flag emoji rendering issue on Windows environment

 **Description:**
 On WordPress, flag emojis for England (`🏴`), Scotland (`🏴`), and Wales
 (`🏴`) do not render correctly in Windows environments. Instead of showing
 their respective flag designs, they are displayed as a plain black flag
 (`🏴`).

 On mobile devices (such as Android or iOS), these flag emojis render
 properly as intended using either system emojis or Twemoji fallback.
 However, on Windows 10/11 desktop systems, particularly with the Segoe UI
 Emoji font, the emoji tag sequences required for these regional flags are
 not supported, causing them to appear as a generic black flag.

 **Steps to Reproduce:**

 1. Post a comment or content on a WordPress site containing these emojis:

    * 🏴 (England)
    * 🏴 (Scotland)
    * 🏴 (Wales)
 2. View the page on:

    * **Mobile (Android/iOS)** → Emoji display correctly
    * **Windows 10/11 desktop** → Displays as 🏴 black flag

 **Expected Result:**
 England, Scotland, and Wales flag emojis should render properly across
 platforms, or at least gracefully fallback via Twemoji when system font
 support is lacking.

 **Actual Result:**
 On Windows, all three flag emojis appear as 🏴.

 **Additional Info:**

 * Confirmed on latest WordPress.com and WordPress.org self-hosted sites.
 * Twemoji appears to correctly render these on other platforms like
 Mastodon, X.com (Twitter), and Misskey.
 * Possible workaround: Ensure Twemoji or another fallback emoji library
 handles emoji tag sequences on desktop platforms where system fonts lack
 support.

 **Related Links:**

 * [Emojipedia - England Flag](https://emojipedia.org/flag-england/)
 * [Emojipedia - Scotland Flag](https://emojipedia.org/flag-scotland/)
 * [Emojipedia - Wales Flag](https://emojipedia.org/flag-wales/)
 https://wordpress.com/support/emoji/
 https://x.com/thaumiel999/status/1923038246533001630
 https://mastodon.social/@thaumiel999/114512564948217544
 https://misskey.io/notes/a7t3kaiafyr70boz
 https://kimjiwoon96.wordpress.com/2025/02/16/%EC%95%84%ED%8C%8C%ED%8A%B8-%EC%98%A5%EC%83%81
 /comment-page-1/#comment-54

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/63451>
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