No. Unlike a newspaper, they host videos and photos of a third of (?) the US population, have detailed reader data on who reads what when, who is friends with whom, location history, etc.
This data treasure trove may be stored in US, but it isn't protected from Chinese govt access. It is the same for data by American companies, which US Patriot act lets the US govt access.
Not necessarily. China pursues many objectives when it comes to its national security, such as intimidation and coercion of dissidents or opponents of its regime living abroad. Assuming China's equivalent of the Patriot act lets it treat TikTok user data as an open book, there is a lot for them to learn from it.
Compare with China though. There is absolutely no way that a company like Bytedance would be allowed to operate inside China while under American control.
I claim that these companies do not have a particularly high amount of in-house infosec know-how and outsource a lot of it, not necessarily just in terms of buying equipment, but also the service component of how to set up business practices in a secure way. It doesn't absolve them of their failures but I'm no less surprised in AT&T failing to protect data than I would be McDonald's.
The company called AT&T now and the company called AT&T that invented Unix have really nothing in common but a thin stretch of history by now. The technology development units of AT&T were split off into Lucent a long time ago.
Calling AT&T a tech company because they operate technological infrastructure is like calling Spirit Airlines an aerospace technology company because they operate jet airplanes.
AT&T and phone carriers in general are not technology companies. They are infrastructure companies that purchase off-the-shelf communication technology, slap a billing system on top, and then spend most of their time on operations (finding places to put towers, keeping the gear up and running) and marketing. The security component of communications isn't built by them, but by the equipment manufacturers that they purchase from. There are no strong penalties for involuntary data leaks - why would they do more?
This data treasure trove may be stored in US, but it isn't protected from Chinese govt access. It is the same for data by American companies, which US Patriot act lets the US govt access.