---
title: Join (join.gov.tw)
type: government
status: active
country: TW
website: https://join.gov.tw
logo: /assets/org-logos/join-gov-tw.png
contact:
  checked: 2026-08-09
  form: https://join.gov.tw/contactus
  source: https://join.gov.tw/contactus
summary: Taiwan's official government-run public policy participation platform, launched
  2015 by the National Development Council with assistance from Digital Minister Audrey
  Tang's office — the state's own successor to vTaiwan, reaching a broader public
  than vTaiwan's digital-policy remit ever did.
concepts:
- e-government
- direct-democracy
location:
  latitude: 25.033
  longitude: 121.5654
  name: Taipei, Taiwan
  precision: city
related_orgs:
- vtaiwan
- g0v
events:
- date: '2015-01-01'
  title: Launched by Taiwan's National Development Council following a February 2015
    Executive Yuan directive
  url: https://europeandemocracyhub.epd.eu/exploring-worldwide-democratic-innovations-taiwan/
  quote: was launched under the sponsorship of the National Development Council. The
    website has made it possible for citizens to submit a policy proposal to the government
    via the Internet.
  proof_level: high
  url_checked: '2026-08-10'
  notable: true
activity:
  manual:
    checked: 2026-08-07
    date: 2026-08-07
    note: Site loaded, active proposals visible on homepage across a range of policy
      areas.
    url: https://join.gov.tw/
  rss:
    date: 2026-08-17
    note: RSS feed active
    url: https://join.gov.tw/?feed=rss2
    checked: 2026-08-17
last_checked: '2026-08-09'
---

Join (join.gov.tw, officially the Public Policy Online Participation Platform / 公共政策網路參與平臺) is a government-run civic participation platform operated by Taiwan's National Development Council, launched in 2015 with assistance from Digital Minister Audrey Tang's office.[^amcham] It grew out of the same 2014 Sunflower Movement moment that produced [vTaiwan](vtaiwan.md) and [g0v](g0v.md), but took a different institutional path: rather than a volunteer civic-tech collaboration, Join was built and is run directly by government, giving its recommendations formal procedural weight that vTaiwan's advisory-only model never had.

## How it works

Join centres on a **petition mechanism**: any citizen can submit a policy proposal, and if it gathers **5,000 supporters within 60 days**, the relevant government agency is legally required to provide a reasoned public response.[^bertelsmann] Since January 2016 the Executive Yuan has also required agencies under its jurisdiction to post proposed regulations to Join for a 60-day public comment period before finalising them.[^amcham] The platform also runs open consultations ("眾开講"), legislative monitoring, participatory budgeting, and a channel to contact officials directly.

By June 2022, Join had received 13,853 total proposals, of which 289 reached the 5,000-signature threshold requiring a government response.[^bertelsmann]

## Comparison with vTaiwan

Analysts studying both platforms describe a genuine division of labour rather than redundancy: Join is "a clear and well-designed platform, making it easy to petition and rally support," while vTaiwan's Pol.is-based deliberation is more tech-intensive and better suited to surfacing consensus on contested, multi-sided questions.[^bertelsmann] Join's noted weaknesses are the mirror image of vTaiwan's strengths — "little in-depth interaction in the petitioning process," and a relatively low signature threshold that risks a non-diverse pool of supporters driving government attention.[^bertelsmann] Join's strength is institutionalisation: formal procedural backing and dedicated participation officers inside government, rather than a volunteer community's continued goodwill.

Join also reaches further than vTaiwan ever did — an older, less tech-savvy public, and policy areas well outside vTaiwan's digital/tech remit, including drunk-driving law, sexual assault legislation, and child-abuse policy.[^vtaiwan-blog] In effect, vTaiwan proved the model was viable and the state absorbed it: a win for the underlying practice of digital public consultation in Taiwan, even as it left vTaiwan itself without the international spotlight role it held in the platform's early years.

## Links

- Website: [join.gov.tw](https://join.gov.tw)
- Related: [vTaiwan](vtaiwan.md), [g0v](g0v.md)
- Blog: [Occupy to Plurality: what the 2010s civic-tech wave built, and where it stalled](../../blog/posts/2026-08-07-civic-tech-wave-2010s.md)

## See also

- [E-Government](../concepts/e-government.md)
- [Direct Democracy](../concepts/direct-democracy.md)
- [vTaiwan](vtaiwan.md)
- [g0v](g0v.md)

[^amcham]: "a well-designed online portal called Join to facilitate two-way communication between government offices and members of the public on regulatory matters." ["Make Full Use of Join.gov.tw"](https://topics.amcham.com.tw/2017/02/make-full-use-of-join-gov-tw/), AmCham Taiwan / Taiwan Business TOPICS, 2017.

[^bertelsmann]: "The Join platform is a government-run participation hub that is most notable for its petitioning function but also offers several feedback and discussion options." ["Trailblazers of digital participation: Taiwan's Join platform and vTaiwan"](https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/en/our-projects/democracy-and-participation-in-europe/shortcut-archive/shortcut-8-trailblazers-of-digital-participation-taiwans-join-platform-and-vtaiwan), Bertelsmann Stiftung.

[^vtaiwan-blog]: DOD, ["Occupy to Plurality: what the 2010s civic-tech wave built, and where it stalled"](../../blog/posts/2026-08-07-civic-tech-wave-2010s.md), citing the [vTaiwan org page](vtaiwan.md)'s "What came after" section.