It's often used as a friendly and informal reply to someone who has said 'can I ask you something?', and is the same as saying 'go ahead'.

时的友好且轻松的回答，也就是相当于说“go ahead”，请问吧。

youdao

As a consequence, misunderstandings often arise - "I'm sorry to have upset you, " a colleague will reply to an email I intended as a matter-of-fact response to a bit of university business.

BBC: A Point of View: Mourning the loss of the written word