What just happened to this text? and how do I fix it?

So, a client is working with MoodleCloud and it seems like every time we download a file the format is subtly different from the previous time.

The latest is a list that is plain text but I'm guessing the utf coding is different.

In a text editor text looks just fine
When I debug inside the import it looks just fine
But when I view the source of the debug I see that

mowog

Code (markup):

becomes

m o w o g

Code (markup):

and put into a query it becomes

\0\0m\0o\0w\0o\0g\0

Code (markup):

...

What just happened to this text? and how do I fix it?

from PHP https://ift.tt/3eBmWjz
via IFTTT