diff --git a/extensions/markdown-language-features/src/extension.ts b/extensions/markdown-language-features/src/extension.ts
index 875b5d69f8a..a9d95e36ce8 100644
--- a/extensions/markdown-language-features/src/extension.ts
+++ b/extensions/markdown-language-features/src/extension.ts
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ import { MarkdownEngine } from './markdownEngine';
 import { getMarkdownExtensionContributions } from './markdownExtensions';
 import { ExtensionContentSecurityPolicyArbiter, PreviewSecuritySelector } from './security';
 import { loadDefaultTelemetryReporter } from './telemetryReporter';
-import { stripSlugifier } from './slugify';
+import { githubSlugifier } from './slugify';
 
 
 export function activate(context: vscode.ExtensionContext) {
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ export function activate(context: vscode.ExtensionContext) {
 	const contributions = getMarkdownExtensionContributions();
 
 	const cspArbiter = new ExtensionContentSecurityPolicyArbiter(context.globalState, context.workspaceState);
-	const engine = new MarkdownEngine(contributions, stripSlugifier);
+	const engine = new MarkdownEngine(contributions, githubSlugifier);
 	const logger = new Logger();
 
 	const selector: vscode.DocumentSelector = [
diff --git a/extensions/markdown-language-features/src/slugify.ts b/extensions/markdown-language-features/src/slugify.ts
index 768a0c64d97..93c68d8f0e6 100644
--- a/extensions/markdown-language-features/src/slugify.ts
+++ b/extensions/markdown-language-features/src/slugify.ts
@@ -17,19 +17,16 @@ export interface Slugifier {
 	fromHeading(heading: string): Slug;
 }
 
-export const stripSlugifier: Slugifier = new class implements Slugifier {
-	private readonly specialChars: any = { 'à': 'a', 'ä': 'a', 'ã': 'a', 'á': 'a', 'â': 'a', 'æ': 'a', 'å': 'a', 'ë': 'e', 'è': 'e', 'é': 'e', 'ê': 'e', 'î': 'i', 'ï': 'i', 'ì': 'i', 'í': 'i', 'ò': 'o', 'ó': 'o', 'ö': 'o', 'ô': 'o', 'ø': 'o', 'ù': 'o', 'ú': 'u', 'ü': 'u', 'û': 'u', 'ñ': 'n', 'ç': 'c', 'ß': 's', 'ÿ': 'y', 'œ': 'o', 'ŕ': 'r', 'ś': 's', 'ń': 'n', 'ṕ': 'p', 'ẃ': 'w', 'ǵ': 'g', 'ǹ': 'n', 'ḿ': 'm', 'ǘ': 'u', 'ẍ': 'x', 'ź': 'z', 'ḧ': 'h', '·': '-', '/': '-', '_': '-', ',': '-', ':': '-', ';': '-', 'З': '3', 'з': '3' };
-
-	public fromHeading(heading: string): Slug {
-		const slugifiedHeading = encodeURI(heading.trim()
-			.toLowerCase()
-			.replace(/./g, c => this.specialChars[c] || c)
-			.replace(/[\]\[\!\'\#\$\%\&\'\(\)\*\+\,\.\/\:\;\<\=\>\?\@\\\^\_\{\|\}\~\`]/g, '')
-			.replace(/\s+/g, '-') // Replace whitespace with -
-			.replace(/[^\w\-]+/g, '') // Remove remaining non-word chars
-			.replace(/^\-+/, '') // Remove leading -
-			.replace(/\-+$/, '') // Remove trailing -
+export const githubSlugifier: Slugifier = new class implements Slugifier {
+	fromHeading(heading: string): Slug {
+		const slugifiedHeading = encodeURI(
+			heading.trim()
+				.toLowerCase()
+				.replace(/\s+/g, '-') // Replace whitespace with -
+				.replace(/[^\w\-]+/gu, '') // Remove non-word chars
+				.replace(/^\-+/, '') // Remove leading -
+				.replace(/\-+$/, '') // Remove trailing -
 		);
 		return new Slug(slugifiedHeading);
 	}
-};
\ No newline at end of file
+};
diff --git a/extensions/markdown-language-features/src/tableOfContentsProvider.ts b/extensions/markdown-language-features/src/tableOfContentsProvider.ts
index c13a52c60d2..30b9de85744 100644
--- a/extensions/markdown-language-features/src/tableOfContentsProvider.ts
+++ b/extensions/markdown-language-features/src/tableOfContentsProvider.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 
 import * as vscode from 'vscode';
 import { MarkdownEngine } from './markdownEngine';
-import { Slug, stripSlugifier } from './slugify';
+import { Slug, githubSlugifier } from './slugify';
 
 export interface TocEntry {
 	readonly slug: Slug;
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ export class TableOfContentsProvider {
 
 	public async lookup(fragment: string): Promise<TocEntry | undefined> {
 		const toc = await this.getToc();
-		const slug = stripSlugifier.fromHeading(fragment);
+		const slug = githubSlugifier.fromHeading(fragment);
 		return toc.find(entry => entry.slug.equals(slug));
 	}
 
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ export class TableOfContentsProvider {
 			const lineNumber = heading.map[0];
 			const line = document.lineAt(lineNumber);
 			toc.push({
-				slug: stripSlugifier.fromHeading(line.text),
+				slug: githubSlugifier.fromHeading(line.text),
 				text: TableOfContentsProvider.getHeaderText(line.text),
 				level: TableOfContentsProvider.getHeaderLevel(heading.markup),
 				line: lineNumber,
diff --git a/extensions/markdown-language-features/src/test/engine.ts b/extensions/markdown-language-features/src/test/engine.ts
index fbd2322cc38..860bafad7cc 100644
--- a/extensions/markdown-language-features/src/test/engine.ts
+++ b/extensions/markdown-language-features/src/test/engine.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 import * as vscode from 'vscode';
 import { MarkdownEngine } from '../markdownEngine';
 import { MarkdownContributions } from '../markdownExtensions';
-import { stripSlugifier } from '../slugify';
+import { githubSlugifier } from '../slugify';
 
 const emptyContributions = new class implements MarkdownContributions {
 	readonly previewScripts: vscode.Uri[] = [];
@@ -16,5 +16,5 @@ const emptyContributions = new class implements MarkdownContributions {
 };
 
 export function createNewMarkdownEngine(): MarkdownEngine {
-	return new MarkdownEngine(emptyContributions, stripSlugifier);
+	return new MarkdownEngine(emptyContributions, githubSlugifier);
 }
diff --git a/extensions/markdown-language-features/src/test/tableOfContentsProvider.test.ts b/extensions/markdown-language-features/src/test/tableOfContentsProvider.test.ts
index d2f6c180b69..fd98088c8e8 100644
--- a/extensions/markdown-language-features/src/test/tableOfContentsProvider.test.ts
+++ b/extensions/markdown-language-features/src/test/tableOfContentsProvider.test.ts
@@ -75,18 +75,17 @@ suite('markdown.TableOfContentsProvider', () => {
 		assert.strictEqual(await provider.lookup('fo o'), undefined);
 	});
 
-	test('should normalize special characters #44779', async () => {
+	test('should handle special characters #44779', async () => {
 		const doc = new InMemoryDocument(testFileName, `# Indentação\n`);
 		const provider = new TableOfContentsProvider(createNewMarkdownEngine(), doc);
 
-		assert.strictEqual((await provider.lookup('indentacao'))!.line, 0);
+		assert.strictEqual((await provider.lookup('indentação'))!.line, 0);
 	});
 
-	test('should map special З, #37079', async () => {
-		const doc = new InMemoryDocument(testFileName, `### Заголовок Header 3`);
+	test('should handle special characters 2, #48482', async () => {
+		const doc = new InMemoryDocument(testFileName, `# Инструкция - Делай Раз, Делай Два\n`);
 		const provider = new TableOfContentsProvider(createNewMarkdownEngine(), doc);
 
-		assert.strictEqual((await provider.lookup('Заголовок-header-3'))!.line, 0);
-		assert.strictEqual((await provider.lookup('3аголовок-header-3'))!.line, 0);
+		assert.strictEqual((await provider.lookup('инструкция---делай-раз-делай-два'))!.line, 0);
 	});
 });