/ China blocks Meta Manus AI deal worth $2 billion
Liam Ortiz is a tech journalist who covers AI related big tech and breaking news at TheTweaks. Before joining TheTweaks he worked for almost four years in corporate and national tech news in different companies. Few are quick but Liam is quicker, he breaks news before anyone else and that makes her special. His passion is somewhere connected with profession as his hobby is watching documentary movies.
Meta Platforms like Facebook and Instagram agreed to buy a company called Manus for about $2 Billions. Manus is an AI agent, designed to do complex tasks like: Coding, document creation and data analysis. It was developed by Beijing Butterfly Effect Technology. Butterfly Effect is the parent company of Manus AI agent. It was founded by Xiao Hong, CEO and Ji Yichao, Chief scientist Chinese software engineers, who launched Manus on March 06,2025.
In December 2025, Meta announced that it will buy Manus AI. Manus became the fastest startup in history, in just 8 months, it reached the $100 million Annualized Revenue Rate (ARR) milestone in December 2025.Manus staff had already begun integrating into Meta’s Singapore offices prior to final approval.
In January 2026, after the announcement. China Ministry of commerce and National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) officials launched an investigation into this deal due to security concerns. The Chinese Government stipulated three concerns about the Manus-Meta Deal: export controls, data transfer and foreign investment. As all AI companies rely on huge data collection and model training which Manus did in China. This deal makes the NDRC concerned over the cross border deals citing national security and technology protection concerns amid the US-China tech rivalry. If Meta gets access to the data of Manus users-information and other indicators that have been stored in the Manus Database could be concerning for NDRC.
Following this decision, China’s national security will become essential before closing any cross border tech deals. This sets a precedent in China’s history of tech based firms mergers and acquisitions. Manus’ Two founders were also summoned during the proceeding and have been banned from leaving the country. Many sources have confirmed the same.
On April 27, 2026 China’s NDRC orders were issued through a single line statement for both parties. They ordered Meta and Manus to cancel and reverse the entire $2 Billion deal. This sent shock waves around the tech world.
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