The US want to take all my money and put me in jail. I like my freedom.
China want to blackmail me to do their bidding. I dont actually have much shame, so probably wont work so good.
There are days where I think the lesser of two evils when it comes to invading my privacy might be the regime whos jurisdiction I am not, and likely never will be present in.
The US government is monitoring traffic at all major points including undersea cables. The US reasons are complex ranging from terrorism to cyberwar faire to unknown reasons.
One reason China does it to monitor and control their own people. Speaking out against China in the west will often put family in China at risk and any business interests. Monitoring journalist, tracking western movement, cyberwar faire, are all reasons.
Being a US company specifically doesn't make it better, but being a Chinese company absolutely makes it worse.
I wouldn't be nearly as worried if Tiktok were owned by Italy or Germany or France. But China, with it'a ongoing genocide of Muslims and totalitarian oppression, yeah that is worse than Netflix selling your data to advertisers.
Being a US-based company doesn't make this any better, just look at Facebook.
The only people who worry are people on HN. Most other people aren't aware of what's going on, or just don't care.