First, a full disclosure, lest the matter gets ambushed by non-issues of familiarity and favouritism: the celebrated artist Subodh Gupta is a buddy, a pal and jigri dost. But it can in no way cloud the possibility that Gupta—now singed by the #MeToo movement, accused of sexual harassment and abuse by some of his female assistants—be called out being culpable and guilty.

Sexual harassment allegations instantly whip up two possibilities: either of disbelief or impeachment. But a complaint as serious as this cannot be wished away as false and frivolous. It takes a lot for junior assistants to take on lionized, mighty celebrated artists. It’s also spurious to counter arguments with retorts like why did the harassed employees continue to work for Gupta, etc.

Yet, there is a gigantic problem with the way the #MeToo movement is being played out in the Instagram account named @herdsceneand which “outed” Gupta and several other curators and artists. Now, what is this Instagram account about and who runs it?

According to its own bio, Scene and Herd “cuts through BS (bull shit) in the Indian Art world, one predator and power play, at a time. Current posts (are) from our personal experiences. We choose anonymity.” The account has 63 posts so far, 3,659 followers, and follows 22 people, like @BlankNoiseActionHeroes who “unite against victim blaming” and @guerrillagirls (“Feminist artist activists using facts, humor, and outrageous images to expose sexism, racism and corruption in art, politics and pop culture”) amongst others.

The Scene and Herd Insta account jumped on stage only two months ago, with posts about the creepy male gaze of senior male artists at “fuckable” young women or about “the color of their underwear” and such like. There are also searing Insta stories about women who feel betrayed and dejected by the patriarchy and misogyny in the art world; or about women artists who have simply feigned disinterest when a newbie is being assailed by senior males. While there are broad hints about who the harassers are, the posts have remained studiously anonymous, with neither the survivor naming himself or her, or calling out names of the perpetrator.

Until, that is, the middle of October when posts began to name the perpetrator, with hashtags like #TimesUp. The string of names were astounding from biggies like Jatin Das, Rahul Bhattacharya, Imtiyaz Ali, to Binoy Verghese; but it was only after Riyaz Komu, co-founder and secretary of the Kochi Biennale Foundation, was outed and forced to resign on the eve of the opening of the mega-event that Scene and Herd moved to the mainstream print and broadcast media space.

Soon, it was the turn of Sotheby’s India managing director Gaurav Bhatia (another disclosure: he’s a friend too) who was forced to go on leave, yet again, on the eve of his first mega-auction in Mumbai. Sotheby’s asked Bhatia to stay away until the series of allegations of sexual misbehaviour and inappropriateness were heard and he was cleared of all charges. Now, it’s Subodh Gupta who has been accused on the day before he launches the acclaimed Serendipity Festival in Goa, where he’s the curator. Typically, non-believers are raising their eyebrows at the timing of the exposés but that is irrelevant in cases of harassment and abuse.

The troubling part of the Scene and Herd Insta account is its insistence on anonymity and namelessness. In the case of victims, it is an internationally accepted norm in courts of law that the victim enjoys complete anonymity and non-disclosure of his and her identity. However, in both mainstream and social media, it is binding the media names itself to lend credibility that the news is not fake and fabricated, and that they stand by it. The Scene and Herd Insta account fails miserably on this front.

For instance, the #MeToo movement, which leapt out of the probing and insightful investigation by The New York Times on the now disgraced Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, is compelled and obligated by media guidelines and editorial policies when they publish a story, which stands up to scrutiny of journalistic ethics and laws of the country. NYT’s Weinstein investigation was conducted by dogged reporters who spent months collating interviews, legal records, emails and internal documents that revealed the murky details of the Weinstein affair. Any frivolous accusation or allegation is the death knell for a media house, which would simply go under a deluge of criminal suits and legal action.

Similarly, when #MeToo swept Bollywood and media, everyone who made accusations—from Tanushree Dutta who accused actor Nana Patekar, to writer-producer Vinta Nanda who filed a rape charge against actor Alok Nath, to the clutch of journalists who came forward to charge former External Affairs Minister of State and ex-editor MJ Akbar—all stood up to be counted.

To put it simply, all media must ensure there is due diligence in not just researching the story but also verifying the accuracy of a statement and to stand up to scrutiny. If a person is being accused on Scene and Herd, it is imperative that the people behind the Instagram account come up front to establish credibility, inquiry and analysis. In fact, one “survivor” on Scene and Herd was honest enough to say (in a post on October 17) that since she was remaining anonymous, it would be unfair to name anyone in her account of harassment at the Kochi Biennale. The sacred oath of any media is truth and accuracy, independence, fairness, credibility and accountability.

Unfortunately, Scene and Herd refuses to reveal who is behind the account, so how do they establish credibility? Of course, you don’t expect in-depth reporting on social media, but the latter too requires the same diligence mainstream media does for authenticity. Or what separates you from fake news?

It’s also the golden rule in journalism to not quote online forums and social media sites that do not identify themselves, but mainstream media erred by quoting Scene and Herd without verification, or authenticating the site for accuracy and legitimacy. It was a dangerous risk as libel suits can rain on media outlets which carried the Instagram posts without any checks and substantiation. Simply put, how do you substantiate the allegations to be true?

Scene and Herd painstakingly underlines that its account is not to malign or attack institutions but to hold individuals who hold positions of power accountable in cases of sexual abuse and assault, but can social media be only a one-way street? And, that too, without any rules?