Manus to resume independence after China blocks Meta deal

AI startup Manus said Tuesday it would resume operating as an independent company, months after China blocked Meta's acquisition of the Chinese-developed, Singapore-based company.

Manus said some data going back to late December will be deleted as a result and urged affected users to back up their data. “This is part of our separation from Meta; we must take this step to comply with regulatory requirements in specific parts of the world,” Manus said in a blog post.

Manus is an artificial intelligence agent developed by the startup Butterfly Effect. AI agents are software programs designed to perform tasks without human intervention.

Meta agreed in December to acquire Manus. China's top economic planning body blocked the deal in April and ordered the companies to withdraw the acquisition. Meta previously told AFP that “the transaction complied fully with applicable law.”

The Financial Times reported that many former Manus investors are in talks to retake stakes in the startup at a $2 billion valuation, including Tencent, which would become its largest shareholder. The Financial Times also reported that Beijing restricted travel for two Manus co-founders, preventing them from leaving China.

China has been cracking down on what is known as “Singapore-washing,” when companies leave the country to seek looser regulation, global customers or funding opportunities. Wendy Chang of the Mercator Institute for China Studies told AFP in April that the Manus case marked a major turning point in that crackdown.