KATHMANDU: Twitter has approached TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance to express an interest in buying its US operations, BBC reported.

Video-sharing platform TikTok has controversies in a recent week.

Last week US Donald Trump ordered firms to stop doing business with TikTok within 45 days over security concerns.

Tech giant Microsoft is the front-runner to buy TikTok but now Twitter has emerged as a possible suitor.

However, it remains unclear whether Twitter can afford to buy TikTok from its Chinese owners and can complete a deal within the 45-day window, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The value of TikTok’s US operations are unclear but estimates put it at tens of billions of dollars while the Twitter’s market capitalization is about $29bn.

A Twitter spokesman declined to comment on a possible deal while TikTok didn’t respond immediately according to the BBC.

(With inputs from Agencies)