But "fact-checking" by people in authority is OK? Isn't that like, authoritarian?

"Fact-checking" completely removed the ability for debate and is therefore antithetical to a functional democracy. Pushing back against authority, because they are often dead wrong, is foundational to a free society. It's hard to imagine anything more authoritarian than "No I don't have to debate because I'm a fact-checker and by that measure alone you're wrong and I'm right". Very Orwellian indeed!

Additionally, the number of times that I've observed "fact-checkers" lying thru their teeth for obvious political reasons is absurd.