Zero-width and invisible
INVISIBLE TIMES (U+2062)
The invisible multiplication sign — the operator that is meant when you write "2x" and mean "2 times x".
- Codepoint
U+2062- Category
- Zero-width and invisible
- Removed by default
- Yes
- Governing option
- No option needed
- Can be load-bearing
- No
Where it comes from
MathML, equation editors and scientific word processors. It reaches plain text by way of copy-paste out of a rendered formula.
Why it matters
It is invisible in prose and, sitting between two letters, it is indistinguishable from a zero width space to a reader — but it survives filters that only look for the zero-width family.
Before and after
The multiplication is there in the data and absent from the page.
The character is shown as a labelled chip so you can see where it sits. In your text it draws nothing at all.
When it is legitimate
Inside MathML, where "ab" must be read as a product rather than as a name.
How to remove it
The default pass removes it, together with the other three invisible operators. No option to enable, no context in which it is kept.
Is it an AI watermark?
Used to hide data — not a watermark
No. It is maths markup that ends up in prose by accident, or a deliberate choice by a payload tool looking for a codepoint that naive filters miss.
A known carrier for deliberately hidden payloads. Someone put it there on purpose, which is a different question from who wrote the words.
Questions
Why does an invisible multiplication sign exist?
So that software can tell "2x" (two times x) from a variable literally named "2x", for screen readers and computer algebra systems.
Is it ever meaningful in ordinary text?
No. Outside a formula it carries no information, which is why the default pass removes it without asking.
Check your own text
Paste anything into the cleaner to see every hidden character it contains, with position, codepoint and what happens to each one. Nothing is uploaded.