diff --git a/includes/functions.php b/includes/functions.php
index 3bab3cebc8..51b82ae7e9 100644
--- a/includes/functions.php
+++ b/includes/functions.php
@@ -1129,9 +1129,6 @@ if (!defined('JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE')) {
 
 function _json_encode($data, $options = 448)
 {
-    array_walk_recursive($data, function (&$val) {
-        $val = utf8_encode($val);
-    });
     if (version_compare(PHP_VERSION, '5.4', '>=')) {
         return json_encode($data, $options);
     } else {