TMTPOST -- A member of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s team vowed to keep TikTok operating in the country as a ban on the popular short video application draws near.

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“We will put measures in place to keep TikTok from going dark,” Mike Waltz, Trump’s nominee for national security advisor, told Fox News on Thursday. Waltz added the law on the impending ban “allows for an extension as long as a viable deal is on the table”, so it buys Trump time to keep TIkTok going.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer the same day called on other Senators to extend the January 19 deadline for a ban of TikTok,  which is owned by China’s ByteDance Ltd.

 "We aren’t against TikTok,” Schumer said in a press release. “We want TikTok to keep going. But we are against a Chinese company that is in cahoots with the Chinese Communist Party owning TikTok.” 

Senate Democrats attempted to pass a bill to extend the deadline, and will continue to work to find “a responsible solution”, accodring to Schumer.  “I will work with the Trump administration and with both parties to keep TikTok alive while protecting our national security,” said Schumer.

The Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (the “Act”), which went into effect in April 2024, gives ByteDance 270 days to divest its U.S. assets including TikTok, otherwise the Chinese tech giant would face a ban on its app being available in U.S. app stores or on U.S. web hosting services. It also grants the White House the authority to prolong this deadline by another 90 days if the president deems that progress has been made towards a sale.

While no serious purchase deal is imminent,Bloomberg quoted two Biden administration officials on Thursday that the January 19, or Sunday, deadline essentially punts enforcement to the next administration, which opens the door for Trump to extend the deadline.  

The Biden administration hadn’t changed its position that TikTok should be sold to a U.S. buyer, but the timing of the statutory deadline effectively means it will be up to the Trump administration to enforce, the aforementioned officials said. One of the officials said TikTok users should not expect an immediate shutdown on Sunday.

Trump is weighing different options to save TikTok, one of which is an executive order that would pause enforcement of a sell-or ban law for 60 to 90 days when he officially becomes president, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing two people familiar with the matter.

CNN later that day cited sources that Trump is considering a plan that could delay America’s TikTok ban, giving the incoming administration more time to potentially cut a deal with a U.S. buyer to save the short video application. The report noted Trump's potential executive order would continue to use the app for a certain period of time as the administration sorts out who could potentially buy it.

Chinese officials are weighing a potential option to sell TikTok’s U.S. operation to Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk should ByteDance will not succeed in fending off an impending ban, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. It noted the Chinese government is interested in a potential high-profile with Musk for the billionaire, as one of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s closest allies, is deemed to be a key role in the ultimate fate of TikTok. One scenario that has been debated by Beijing is that Musk’s social media X, formerly Twitter, would take control of TikTok operation in the United States and run the businesses together.