Manus resumes operations after China blocked Meta deal

AI startup Manus said Tuesday it had resumed independent operations, months after China blocked Meta from acquiring the Chinese-developed, Singapore-based company.

Manus said some users would have to back up and restore their data and would face a “temporary interruption to access”. It said its founding team would continue to lead the company.

Meta and Manus announced in December that Meta had agreed to acquire Manus, an artificial intelligence agent, in a deal reportedly worth about $2 billion.

China's top economic planning body said in April that it had prohibited the deal and required the parties to withdraw the acquisition transaction.

Manus said in August that it intended to return to independent operations as “part of our separation from Meta”. It said then that it had to take the step to comply with regulatory requirements in specific parts of the world.

Meta previously told AFP that “the transaction complied fully with applicable law”.

The planned acquisition came during technological rivalry between Washington and Beijing. Before China announced the ban, the Financial Times reported that China had restricted two Manus co-founders from leaving the country.

China has been cracking down on a practice known as “Singapore-washing”, in which companies leave the country to take advantage of looser regulations, global customers or funding opportunities.

Manus, linked to CEO Xiao Hong's ambition to build a Chinese company with global recognition, shifted its approach in 2025. It laid off dozens of staff in Beijing and Wuhan, relocated core personnel to Singapore, began blocking access for Chinese users and withdrew from Chinese social media.

Woody Ye, a partner at Junsheng Consulting, told AFP that part of the reason for the Manus fallout was its failure to properly handle legal issues. “The core of this is that some startups and their founders don't understand compliance well,” he said.

Ye said people would pay closer attention to investment structures, operational frameworks and future exit strategies after the Manus episode.