On the morning of October 23, 2026, the Institute of European and American Studies in collaboration with the Faculty of History and International Relations, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Viet Nam National University Ho Chi Minh City successfully organized the domestic scientific seminar “Digital Capitalist State and Social Issues in the United States”. The seminar was attended by experts, scientists, and leaders of various units, notably Dr. Dang Xuan Thanh - Former Vice President of the Viet Nam Academy of Social Sciences, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vu Tuan Hung - Director of the Institute of Social Sciences of the Southern Region, Dr. Nguyen Tang Nghi - Director of the Faculty of History and International Relations, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Viet Nam National University Ho Chi Minh City, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Hong Hanh - Senior Lecturer, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU Hanoi, Dr. Nguyen Thi Oanh - project lead, Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Manh - Deputy Editor-in-Chief in charge of the European and American Studies Journal, Dr. Nghiem Tuan Hung - Director of the Center for Strategic and International Security Studies, Institute of European and American Studies, along with numerous delegates, lecturers, and students.
In her introductory speech, Dr. Nguyen Thi Oanh extended her gratitude to the Faculty of History and International Relations for coordinating the seminar, while posing key discussion questions regarding the relationship between state power and platform capitalist entities—a complex relationship as the state faces challenges in antitrust, data management, and privacy protection. According to Dr. Nguyen Thi Oanh, the digital economy is giving rise to new forms of inequality and dependency linked to new means of production. On this basis, the seminar focused on identifying the transformation in the role, functions, and governance methods of the U.S. state under the impact of digital capitalism, as well as the relationship between the state and technology corporations; clarifying social contradictions arising from the digitalization process, in which many forms of labor in the digital economy go uncompensated, thereby determining the state's role and functions; and drawing from the U.S. experience valuable references and policy suggestions for Vietnam.
Photo: Dr. Nguyen Thi Oanh - Institute of European and American Studies
Speaking as the chair, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Hong Hanh emphasized that we are all currently living within digital capitalism itself, therefore the seminar holds significant theoretical and practical value for all professional positions. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Hong Hanh raised a paradox: users are provided with many free digital services, while digital companies are becoming increasingly wealthy. So, what price have users paid to obtain those services? That price is not money, but personal data, intellect, and time. From there, the delegate raised questions about social and security impacts, as well as challenges for the world in general.
Photo: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Hong Hanh - Senior Lecturer, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU Hanoi
Beginning the presentation section, Dr. Nghiem Tuan Hung presented the topic “The Role of the State in the Development of Digital Capitalism in the United States”. Citing the BBC's TechLife podcast about data labelers and content moderators at major tech firms being laid off, and humanoid robots supporting remote surgery, the author questioned how technology has changed us, and whether robots will become a new force in social development. Regarding the approach, the presentation adhered to Marxist-Leninist political economy, focusing on ownership of means of production, surplus value exploitation, and corporations harvesting user data without payment. According to Dr. Nghiem Tuan Hung, digital capitalism is monopolistic in nature, concentrating capital in a few large corporations and linked to state monopoly. From the lens of international political economy and Susan Strange's concept of structural power, the author pointed out the close link between the public and private sectors through cloud computing and control of the semiconductor industry. According to the presentation, the expansion of large tech corporations is tightly bound to the supporting role of the U.S. state. Due to the requirement for massive capital, the government funded research through defense programs, and many core technologies in today's smart devices originated there. Subsequently, the state built a legal infrastructure with two acts aimed at reducing legal risks for businesses. Since 2020, facing supply chain disruptions and U.S.-China competition, the U.S. has shifted to a hidden intervention mechanism, typified by the CHIPS Act under President Joe Biden along with federal AI policies. This shows that the market mechanism cannot resolve the issues posed by itself, while proving the proactive role of the state in directing capital accumulation. The presentation thereby identified four prominent social issues: illegal monopoly status and high market concentration of digital platforms, which limits technological development; monitoring and commercialization of user data without a comprehensive privacy law; the precarious status of platform labor, making it difficult for them to access social security; and inequality in access to infrastructure, costs, education, and public services. Comparing with Japan, Dr. Nghiem Tuan Hung assessed that the U.S. leans towards surveillance capitalism, exploiting data to personalize advertising, while Japan focuses on data governance. The flexible economic model of the U.S. shifts risks to workers, while Japan is more oriented towards social security; social subsidies in the U.S. are unsustainable, while Japan targets all population groups. Even so, the author posed an open question as to whether the Japanese model is truly superior. From there, Dr. Nghiem Tuan Hung concluded that the digital market always involves state intervention and the state will continue to restructure the market using tools such as subsidies and taxes. However, the fundamental contradiction in value distribution persists, as most of the value belongs to the private sector.
Photo: Dr. Nghiem Tuan Hung presenting the topic “The Role of the State in the Development of Digital Capitalism in the United States”
Continuing the program, Dr. Nguyen Tuan Khanh - University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Viet Nam National University Ho Chi Minh City presented the topic “Securitization and Redistribution of Platform Capital: The Role of the U.S. Digital Capitalist State through the TikTok Case (2020-2026)”. The author pointed out that productive forces today have shifted from factories and workers to data, digital platforms, and AI, thereby questioning who truly owns these digital means of production. The presentation used three analytical lenses including securitization through technification, distributive desecuritization, and the digital capitalist state, in which the U.S. considers TikTok a significant security issue. According to Dr. Nguyen Tuan Khanh, the TikTok case underwent three stages. In the first stage, the executive branch attempted to ban the app via executive orders but was rejected due to lack of legal basis; by 2021, the issue was brought into a focused risk regulation framework. By 2024, the case fell into a bottleneck of policy and legalization, technical measures were set aside to shift to a user protection act. In the third stage, the case shifted to transaction and commercial settlement, through a series of executive orders to delay implementation, resulting in 80% of TikTok shares belonging to U.S. investors and sparking legal controversy. Compared to Project Texas, the difference in ownership is clear, meaning the security issue was resolved through transaction. From this case, the author argued that the security threat (ban or forced divestment) led to capital redistribution through share and revenue transfer. As new digital tools become the primary productive force creating future wealth, the question remains whether there is a change in class structure.
Photo: Dr. Nguyen Tuan Khanh presenting the topic “Securitization and Redistribution of Platform Capital: The Role of the U.S. Digital Capitalist State through the TikTok Case (2020-2026)”
In the commentary section, Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Manh assessed that Vietnam is always interested in observing and evaluating the development of capitalism. If only approached in a traditional way, there will be unexplainable bottlenecks, and each era has certain shifts. The open discussion section was vibrant with many multidimensional opinions. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Dung - University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Viet Nam National University Ho Chi Minh City questioned which role of the digital capitalist state is the most important; whether the monopoly of large tech corporations is related to the current legal basis of the U.S., whether the U.S. allows this monopoly to exist, and why the U.S. takes actions to ban TikTok. From a historical perspective, Dr. Dao Minh Hong - University of Economics and Finance Ho Chi Minh City commented that research still lacks the role of historical science in solving this problem, specifically the state's adaptation or resistance to changes, as well as state policy in each industrial revolution. Dr. Dao Minh Hong argued that the approach divided by country is not enough. Digital capitalism is transnational, not confined to the borders of each country, so it needs to be approached from a transnational and multidisciplinary perspective (economy, politics, society, state policy, culture, value systems, human rights) to clarify the issue further.
Photo: Dr. Dao Minh Hong - University of Economics and Finance Ho Chi Minh City
Answering the questions, Dr. Nghiem Tuan Hung argued that the U.S. state has three main functions: providing “seed capital” through funding basic research, creating a legal mechanism, and regulating society, of which the third function is not yet truly effective. Regarding monopoly, he argued that large tech corporations monopolize data, while the state does not yet have enough laws to prevent this concept of data monopoly. Regarding TikTok, Dr. Nguyen Tuan Khanh stated that the U.S. faced two options: ban or nationalize. A ban would cause huge damage, while nationalization runs contrary to the nature of a capitalist state. Therefore, the chosen solution was to share ownership of these means of production, keep the ownership structure for U.S. private businesses, and ensure the principles of a monopoly capitalist state. In the context of competition, gaining ownership is very important.
Photo: Dr. Nghiem Tuan Hung answering questions
Concluding the session, Dr. Dang Xuan Thanh remarked that the seminar delved deeper into the role of the state in every economy, especially the digital economy and the U.S. According to him, the state has the role of centralizing power, providing public goods, ensuring social order, and public administrative services. In digital capitalism, the state also has to stabilize operations, ensure no market failures occur, and perform protectionist functions. However, the state's protection of ownership rights to data, cloud computing, and platforms remains controversial. Dr. Dang Xuan Thanh also raised the issue of distribution: to distribute, one must price first, but currently, no one has priced data and there is no law determining whether data is an asset or not. Regarding the organization of production, large tech corporations almost dominate, and users do not have the right to bargain over prices. Accordingly, Dr. Dang Xuan Thanh also raised warnings about tech bubbles and the concentrated power of interest groups.
Photo: Dr. Dang Xuan Thanh - Former Vice President of the Viet Nam Academy of Social Sciences
With multidimensional presentations and academic exchanges, the domestic scientific seminar “Digital Capitalist State and Social Issues in the United States” contributed to clarifying the state's role in the development of digital capitalism, as well as social issues arising from data monopoly, privacy, platform labor, and inequality in access. Thereby, the seminar not only supplemented theoretical foundations for researching digital capitalism but also suggested important issues for identifying, comparing development models, and drawing reference lessons for Vietnam in the context of a strongly developing digital economy.
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