If it's indeed just an algorithm accident, that's one thing. But if an engineer did it as a protest, and it got through code review, that's a bit more concerning. Fortunately everything Apple does is open source and we can just check...
Discussion
if no other typed names of cities were prompting flag emojis - that is a red flag so to speak that “the bug” was purposely programmed. but honestly it’s a very minor act of rebellion in the scheme of things for an engineer to do! considering the situation. 😑
The "size" of the political statement is not my concern. More that it could have been a keylogger instead.