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A Social Media Company CEO Calls Out Essena O'Neill, Says She's A 'Lie'

by Eitan Levine
Instagram

Aaaaaaand, now the fallout starts.

It's been two days since news broke of 19-year-old former Instagram model Essena O'Neill's exodus from all forms of social media in order to expose how the Instagram modeling scene was really just a fake and hollow series of pre-planned photo shoots.

What originally started with mass photo deleting and caption editing (to let users know how much she was getting paid to wear certain clothes and the effort to make her look falsely eternally candid) came full circle; Essena since deleted her entire Internet footprint and only communicates now to fans through her new social justice website, Let's Be Game Changers.

One social media expert, RISE9 CEO Zack James, is calling BS on Essena and her vendetta, claiming her lack of self-understanding was what led her to delete the accounts.

Essena O'Neill is wrong; Social Media isn't a lie.Social Media can be whatever the user desires it to be. Allowing... Posted by Zack James on Monday, November 2, 2015

In the pretty thorough takedown, James says,

Blaming social media, calling it a lie, further shows your lack of attempt to understand yourself. Yes, deleting your social media is a step in the right direction. Disowning personal responsibility for your own happiness and shifting the blame is a step backward. I, and many others, have found a greater understanding of ourselves through our social media careers. The ability to explore unlimited opportunities, to create what our hearts desire, to speak with our own true voices. We found ourselves through social media because we made that choice to do so.

He ends the post by saying,

Essena O'Neil needs to find real help instead of redirecting personal responsibility toward mankind's greatest communication tool. I truly hope you do, because social media isn't a lie, you were the lie.

Damn, Zack. You are NOT holding back.

Someone get these two into a room with a moderator and a camera.

Citations: Social Media CEO to Essena O'Neill: You Were the Lie, Not Social Media (Cosmopolitan)