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What is with the combined 'GB' and 'IE' characters? Why do they exist and why would anyone use them, given that they break the ctrl+F functionality.

Edit: They don't show up when I copy paste them to a comment.

I think those might be the UK and Ireland flag emojis but they are not present on all platforms or fonts so you see the substitute.

They're flag emoji, which Windows doesn't display (likely for political reasons)