By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming national security adviser said on Thursday the new administration will keep TikTok alive in the United States if there is a viable deal, in a potential reprieve for the popular Chinese-owned video app.
TikTok, which is used by more than 170 million Americans monthly, is set to be banned on Sunday under a law mandating that it find a non-Chinese owner.
“We will put measures in place to keep TikTok from going dark,” U.S. Representative Mike Waltz told Fox News, pointing to a provision in the law allowing for a 90-day extension if there is “significant progress” toward a divestiture.
“Essentially that buys President Trump time to keep TikTok going,” said Waltz, who was picked by Trump to be his national security adviser.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor on Thursday that TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, should be given more time to find a buyer.
“It’s clear that more time is needed to find an American buyer and not disrupt the lives and livelihoods of millions of Americans,” Schumer said, adding that Senate Democrats tried to pass a bill to extend the deadline to come up with a solution. “I will work with the Trump administration and with both parties to keep TikTok alive while protecting our national security.”
The New York Times reported on Thursday that Trump is considering an executive order that would seek to allow TikTok to continue operating despite a pending legal ban until new owners are found. It was not immediately clear if Trump has the authority to do so given the legal divestiture requirements imposed by Congress.
A group of U.S. lawmakers is also pushing for a 270-day extension as well, warning that a ban could hurt Americans who make a living from using TikTok.
TikTok did not respond to requests for comment.
A spokesperson for the Trump transition, Karoline Leavitt, said, “President Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to save TikTok, and there’s no better deal maker than Donald Trump.”
Reuters reported that TikTok plans to shut U.S. operations of its social media app used by 170 million Americans on Sunday, when a federal ban is set to take effect, barring a last-minute reprieve, according to people familiar with the matter.
A White House official told Reuters on Wednesday that President Joe Biden has no plans to intervene to block a ban in his final days in office if the U.S. Supreme Court fails to act. The official added that Biden is legally unable to intervene absent a credible plan from ByteDance to divest TikTok.
The law signed in April mandates a ban on new TikTok downloads on Apple or Google app stores if ByteDance fails to divest the site.
Users who have downloaded TikTok would theoretically still be able to use the app, but the law also bars U.S. companies from providing services to enable the distribution, maintenance, or updating of it once any ban begins.
The president can issue a one-time, 90-day delay to the ban if he certifies to Congress there has been evidence of significant progress and there are binding legal agreements in place to allow a complete divestiture in three months.
Separately, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew plans to attend the U.S. presidential inauguration on Jan. 20 and sit among high-profile guests invited by Trump, a source told Reuters.
Representative Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, criticized the decision to invite Chew on social media platform X.
“Trump talks a big game on China & wanted to ban TikTok—just like many Republicans voted to do,” Pallone said. “But now he’s inviting TikTok’s CEO to sit beside him at his inauguration even though TikTok is linked to the CCP & is a threat to our national security. What message does this send?”
The U.S. Supreme Court is currently deciding whether to uphold the law and allow TikTok to be banned on Sunday, overturn the law, or pause the law to give the court more time to make a decision.
Privately held ByteDance is about 60% owned by institutional investors such as BlackRock and General Atlantic, while its founders and employees own 20% each. It has more than 7,000 employees in the United States.
(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington and Nathan Layne in West Palm Beach, Florida; Editing by Chris Sanders, Chizu Nomiyama and Matthew Lewis)
