When browsing through social media, every once in a while there will be a post that you will disagree with. Sometimes, one disagrees strongly enough to express their opinion in the comments section. This is followed by a back and forth of information, which both parties could disagree to or agree to. However, sometimes, there is more than mere disagreement — a disapproval that offends you and without thinking, you report the post.

Artist, filmmaker and writer Gautam Benegal bore the brunt of a similar situation. When the social networking giant Facebook blocked him for a week, at first, he didn’t quite understand why. Soon, it was brought to his notice that the reason Facebook blocked him from accessing his account was because of a politically inclined post he shared earlier that week — shared, not created. “I had just shared a post originally created by someone else. I found it interesting and didn’t think that sharing it would create this big an issue for me,” he shares. Gautam reveals the post was about identifying a Hindutva sympathiser. He realises that it must only have been a “Hindutva sympathiser” who would have reported him. What Gautam finds most confusing is what part of the article could have been so offensive to someone that they reported it. “The article was about number of ways to identify a Hindutva sympathiser. And mind you, there was nothing vulgar or abusive in the article,” he points out.