Steps to reproduce:
$ printf "foo | 2021\nfoo bar | 2022\n" | column -t -s '|'
foo 2021
foo bar 2022
$ printf "foo | 2021\nfoo \u200e bar | 2022\n" | column -t -s '|'
foo 2021
foo bar 2022
And since some goddamn uploaders :) sometimes accidentally put these marks in their titles, then, probably, before envoking column, it's worth a try to remove those <200e> (and may be others?) with tr or something else?
Not that it happens often, of course... :)