EventsChallenge 04 · Civic online safety
Safe in the Open
Reduce online harm to people in public life — and make the Seven Principles of Public Life visible in practice.
- Oliver Cromwell's birthday
- Apr 2027
- of councillors reported abuse (LGA, 2025)
- 72%
- public information only
- Consent
- Countdown
- Sun 25 Apr 2027
01 — The problem
Protected in public, principled in the open
People in public life — councillors, governors, trustees and community volunteers — increasingly face online abuse and misinformation. It is a real threat to local democracy and falls hardest on those advocating for equity, mental health and young people. The public also rightly expects office-holders to uphold the Seven Principles of Public Life.
The public information needed to reduce that harm, and to evidence integrity, sits across public posts, published minutes, voting records, registers of interests and local news. No simple, responsible tool joins it up under a documented UK data-sharing standard.
01Growing online abuse
72% of councillors reported abuse or intimidation in the past year; 64% said public online platforms were the main channel (LGA, 2025).
Why this is hard
The figures on this card are the Local Government Association’s, published in 2025. The scale matters less here than the pattern it implies: what arrives is public, continuous, and comes through channels the person cannot simply switch off.
02Integrity, but invisible
Conduct aligned to the Seven Principles is rarely visible to the public in a usable way.
Why this is hard
The Seven Principles of Public Life set the standard expected of holders of public office. Conduct that meets them leaves very few visible traces, so the public record tends to carry the accusation and not the standard being kept.
03Scattered public signals
Public posts, votes, declared interests and local news sit in different places, under different terms and licences.
Why this is hard
Everything relevant is already public — posts, votes, registers of interests, local reporting. Each sits with a different publisher under different terms and licences, so "public" does not mean available together.
02 — The question
How might a person in public life understand and act on the harm aimed at them, without having to read all of it themselves?
The question deliberately does not say what an answer looks like. A build, an analysis, a design or a shared standard can all answer it — see the four tracks.
03 — The mission
An ethical, consented prototype — triage and self-assessment
Help a consenting adult volunteer in public life triage online abuse and misinformation aimed at them, and support self-assessment against the Seven Principles of Public Life. The pilot participant takes part in a personal capacity, not on behalf of any council.
What good looks like
- 1ProtectionDoes it measurably reduce harm?
- 2ClarityManageable for one busy volunteer?
- 3IntegrationJoins public sources lawfully and responsibly?
- 4Responsible useConsented, DPIA-backed, no over-reach?
- 5FeasibilityCould a small community group run it?
Five criteria, equal weight.
04 — The data
The public data and framework you will use
Data sharing follows the ICO Data Sharing Code of Practice — the statutory code under s.121 of the Data Protection Act 2018.
| Dataset | What it is | Licence |
|---|---|---|
| Seven Principles of Public Life | The framework for self-assessment — not an automated integrity score. | Public |
| Minutes, votes and interests | Published council decisions, attendance and registers of members’ interests. | Public record |
| Local news and public posts | Public posts aimed at the consenting participant, via official APIs. | Consent + terms |
| Open abuse / toxicity models | Open models flag abuse, threats and misinformation for human triage only. | Open source |
| Support and reporting routes | Routes to platform reporting, the police and welfare support. | Safeguarding |
Open data repository on GitHub (opens external site) No account needed to browse
Take part in 04
Sunday 25 April 2027. 100 places, free to enter, open to all ages — some ages may need parental consent. Bring a team or form one on the day — no prior coding needed.