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China has blocked Meta’s acquisition of the artificial intelligence startup Manus, in an unexpected move to reverse a deal that apparently aroused Beijing’s concerns about the transfer of advanced technology.
China’s National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top planning agency, said on Monday it was prohibiting a foreign acquisition of Manus and had required all the parties to withdraw from the deal. It did not specifically name Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook and Instagram.
The decision was made by the commission’s Office of the Working Mechanism for Security Review of Foreign Investment in accordance with Chinese laws and regulations, the statement said. It came after Chinese authorities said they were looking into the deal earlier this year.
The commission did not elaborate on the reasons for the ban. The announcement came less than a month before US President Donald Trump’s planned visit to Beijing to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in May, in a sign that China’s communist leaders are tightening scrutiny of the AI industry amid intensifying geopolitical rivalry with the US over the technology.
Meta announced in December that it was acquiring Manus, which has Chinese roots but is based in Singapore.
Manus catapulted onto the tech sphere when it unveiled what it called the “world’s first fully autonomous AI”.
Meta’s deal with Manus, whose “general-purpose” AI agent can perform multistep complex work autonomously, was expected to help expand AI offerings across Meta’s platforms.
The company was dubbed as China’s next DeepSeek and said its AI agent could buy property, program video games, analyse stocks, and plan travel itineraries.
Meta had said there would be “no continuing Chinese ownership interests in Manus” and that Manus would discontinue its services and operations in China. But China said in January that it would investigate whether the acquisition would be consistent with its laws and regulations.
Last month, the chief executive of Manus Xiao Hong and chief scientist Ji Yichao were told they could not leave China while regulators review the acquisition, the Financial Times reported.
China’s commerce ministry said at the time that any enterprises engaging in outward investment, technology exports, data transfers and cross-border acquisitions must comply with Chinese law. Meta had said most of Manus’ employees were based in Singapore.
Manus did not respond to a request for comment. Its website says the company “is now part of Meta,” indicating that the deal had already been completed.
Meta said on Monday that the Manus transaction “complied fully with applicable law.”
“We anticipate an appropriate resolution to the inquiry,” the California-based company said in a statement.
“China is showing the world that it is willing to play hardball when it comes to AI talents and capabilities, which the country views as a core national security asset,” said Lian Jye Su, chief analyst at the technology research and advisory group Omdia. “It is strongly indicative of what Chinese authorities may do going forward regarding acquisitions involving Chinese deep-tech companies.”
Beijing’s acquisition ban could deter similar acquisition plans by US tech giants going forward, he said. “In the context of rivalry, it mirrors US export controls, entity lists, and investment curbs on China,” said Su.
