diff --git a/federationapi/routing/send.go b/federationapi/routing/send.go
index 6d60730fc..4a30f8d7f 100644
--- a/federationapi/routing/send.go
+++ b/federationapi/routing/send.go
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ package routing
 import (
 	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
-	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"net/http"
 	"sync"
@@ -208,7 +207,7 @@ func (t *txnReq) processTransaction(ctx context.Context) (*gomatrixserverlib.Res
 			} else {
 				// Auth errors mean the event is 'rejected' which have to be silent to appease sytest
 				errMsg := ""
-				rejected := errors.Is(err, &gomatrixserverlib.NotAllowed{})
+				_, rejected := err.(*gomatrixserverlib.NotAllowed)
 				if !rejected {
 					errMsg = err.Error()
 				}
@@ -371,7 +370,7 @@ func (t *txnReq) processEvent(ctx context.Context, e gomatrixserverlib.Event, is
 	}
 
 	if len(stateResp.MissingAuthEventIDs) > 0 {
-		logger.Infof("%d missing auth_events", len(stateResp.MissingAuthEventIDs))
+		logger.Infof("Event refers to %d unknown auth_events", len(stateResp.MissingAuthEventIDs))
 
 		servers := []gomatrixserverlib.ServerName{t.Origin}
 		serverReq := &api.QueryServerJoinedToRoomRequest{
@@ -416,7 +415,7 @@ func (t *txnReq) processEvent(ctx context.Context, e gomatrixserverlib.Event, is
 	}
 
 	if len(stateResp.MissingPrevEventIDs) > 0 {
-		logger.Infof("%d missing prev_events", len(stateResp.MissingAuthEventIDs))
+		logger.Infof("Event refers to %d unknown prev_events", len(stateResp.MissingPrevEventIDs))
 		return t.processEventWithMissingState(ctx, e, stateResp.RoomVersion, isInboundTxn)
 	}
 
diff --git a/roomserver/internal/helpers/auth.go b/roomserver/internal/helpers/auth.go
index 1030775d2..0fa89d9c4 100644
--- a/roomserver/internal/helpers/auth.go
+++ b/roomserver/internal/helpers/auth.go
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ func CheckForSoftFail(
 	// Check if the event is allowed.
 	if err = gomatrixserverlib.Allowed(event.Event, &authEvents); err != nil {
 		// return true, nil
-		return true, fmt.Errorf("gomatrixserverlib.Allowed: %w", err)
+		return true, err
 	}
 	return false, nil
 }
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ func CheckAuthEvents(
 
 	// Check if the event is allowed.
 	if err = gomatrixserverlib.Allowed(event.Event, &authEvents); err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("gomatrixserverlib.Allowed: %w", err)
+		return nil, err
 	}
 
 	// Return the numeric IDs for the auth events.