It modifies the prompt, aka the input, not the output. It is smuggling 3 bits of secret user/session data in a wrapper that doesn’t look like it contains that data. As the article explains:

So the marker becomes part of the system context sent to the model.

This is a normal timestamp on a prompt:

Today's date is 2026-07-11.

But if your system timezone is a Chinese mainland timezone, it looks like:

Today's date is 2026/07/11.

Then, if your base URL includes a keyword like “deepseek,” it silently replaces the apostrophe from a ' to a ʼ:

Todayʼs date is 2026-07-11.

Or if the base URL has one of the domains on the list, like any .cn domain, it replaces the apostrophe with another apostrophe character:

Today’s date is 2026-07-11.

And if it has both a URL and a keyword on the watchlist, the prompt context includes:

Todayʹs date is 2026-07-11

That’s 3 bits of information: does this system have a mainland Chinese time zone, does the base URL contain a known keyword (associated with Chinese AI competitors) or a known domain (associated with mainland China or its major tech companies). And it sneaks it on by without making it obvious.

That’s steganography.