The Eagle to close its Facebook page

Updated at 11:59 a.m. Mountain Time, Friday, March 30, 2018

In light of the scandal surrounding Cambridge Analytica’s mining of personal data from more than 50 million unsuspecting Facebook users, The Eagle has dropped its official Facebook page effective 11:58 a.m. today.
“The move is permanent,” Editor Torri Brumbaugh, senior of Gering, said Wednesday. Brumbaugh said she made the decision after considerable discussion with The Eagle’s Adviser Michael D. Kennedy.
The New York Times reported on March 19 that “Cambridge Analytica, a political data firm hired by President Trump’s 2016 election campaign, gained access to private information on more than 50 million Facebook users. The firm offered tools that could identify the personalities of American voters and influence their behavior.”
The Times’ article noted that “Facebook prohibits this kind of data to be sold or transferred ‘to any ad network, data broker or other advertising or monetization-related service.’”
That does not matter to The Eagle.
“Our readers come first,” Brumbaugh said. “If we continue our Facebook presence, and continue interacting with readers through Facebook, then that means we condone that deception and misuse of information. We don’t. And we are not interested in exposing our readers to it, either.”
Kennedy agreed.
“Torri and I talked about it, and I back her decision 100 percent,” he said.
The New York Times said that the hashtag #DeleteFacebook was used over 40,000 times on Tuesday, March 20, and over 10,000 times in a two-hour period on Wednesday, March 21.
Although The Eagle is now joining that exodus, it is not terminating its entire online presence. Readers may still access its comprehensive campus coverage at csceagle.com and by following us on twitter at @csceagle for our coverage of The Big Event on April 21.