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Microsoft has held talks to acquire TikTok, whose Chinese owner ByteDance faces mounting pressure from the US government to sell the video sharing app or risk being blacklisted in the country, The Financial Times reported, citing people briefed on the matter.

The approach to buy TikTok was at an early stage, and it was unclear whether Microsoft would succeed in taking it over, as the transaction faced multiple hurdles, said people familiar with the negotiation.

The people also said multiple parties were interested in acquiring TikTok and the process remained in its preliminary stages. Microsoft and TikTok declined to comment.

Takeover interest comes amid rising scrutiny of TikTok and ByteDance’s data-sharing practices, which US President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign ads have implied amount to Chinese spying on American users.

Mr Trump said on Friday that he was considering “a couple of options” to address TikTok, including a ban. The Financial Times reported this month that the White House had considered placing ByteDance on the “entity list” which would effectively bar it from doing business with US companies.