ALBANY — While law firms are encouraged by marketing experts to use social media to promote their services, a state judicial watchdog panel has a very different message for judges.

Interactions on Facebook and other internet platforms can be risky for judges in an era when “so little is truly private” if they post messages that raise questions about their integrity or ability to remain impartial, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct says in its annual report.

“The hasty or improvident post that is quickly withdrawn may endure and be seen far longer and wider than the creator intended or imagined,” the commission warned.

The commission and the state Advisory Committee on Judicial ethics have reminded judges previously that they are required by standards of judicial conduct to “act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in judicial independence, integrity and impartiality,” the report noted.

Nevertheless, some judges end up as the focus of commission investigations every year.

The commission said it processed 1,938 new complaints against judges in 2021, resulting in 375 preliminary inquiries.

A total of 13 judges resigned and publicly agreed to never again seek judicial office.

Where the commission had not determined that removal from the bench was warranted, a total of 10 judges resigned while complaints against them were still pending.

Four judges ended up being publicly censured, while confidential cautionary letters were sent to 20 judges who had become the subject of complaints.

The commission also reminded judges — except those who serve in town or village courts — that they are obligated to file annual financial statements, with a listing of any outside income.

The commission attached decisions relating to several disciplinary actions stemming from its investigations.

In one, John Peck, a town judge in the Ontario County town of Gorham, was admonished for posting on Facebook in 2020 that he had attended a “Back the Blue” motorcycle rally to show support for police officers.

Peck had also posted a photograph showing him in his Ontario County sheriff’s uniform at his daughter’s police academy graduation, the commission noted.

The panel opted not to seek Peck’s removal, noting he expressed regret for his posts and signaled he plans to follow the judicial rules going forward.

But a former Schoharie County town and village justice, Kenneth C. Knutsen, resigned from his posts amid a commission investigation into controversial Facebook posts.

Knutsen’s posts showed what the commission called “anti-LGBTQ bias.” The panel said he also made biased comments in favor of law enforcement.

A portion of the complaint against him involved the fact he engaged in prohibited commentary about a then pending matter in the courts, namely the trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, convicted last year in the killing of George Floyd,

The commission closed that investigation after Knutsen stipulated he would never seek judicial office in the future.