Not used Mint, but I loved Zorin. I did have a problem with the GNOME Software Store where nothing would load until I ended it through the system monitor but other than that it was good.
Mint doesn’t detect my graphics card and had some weird display bugs so make sure to try both as a live OS before installing and check about system in system settings to ensure your hardware is correctly detected.
Short answer: probably.
Long answer: Its hard to tell. Their privacy policy doesn’t really mention it, however it does say they store some “biometric” data, not a clue what it refers to though. This data could be leaked in some form of data breach. I would recommend emailing them (privacyoffice@takeda.com) as they may be able to help more.
The problem I have with that is that it finds all YT vids and doesn’t have a section just for shorts.