China blocks Meta's $2 billion acquisition of AI startup Manus after months-long investigation

China has officially demanded that Meta terminate its acquisition of the Manus startup — a project valued at approximately two billion dollars, which was supposed to become Meta's flagship asset in the AI-agents segment. The decision follows an investigation that stretched over several months. Manus is a Chinese startup developing autonomous AI agents capable of performing complex tasks without human intervention in browsers and operating systems: filling out forms, searching for information, managing files, and interacting with web services.

The project gained broad international attention in early 2025, when demo videos spread across all major technology platforms. On the wave of hype, Manus was called not just a competitor to ChatGPT, but the next stage in the evolution of user AI — from dialogue to action. Meta announced its intention to acquire the startup at the end of 2025.

The deal was valued at approximately $2 billion and was supposed to strengthen the company's position in the race for AI agents, in which OpenAI with Operator, Google with Gemini Actions, and Anthropic with Computer Use are currently competing. For Meta, this would have been not just a finished product, but a team with rare expertise in autonomous agent systems. However, Chinese regulators began an antitrust investigation immediately after the announcement.

Their logic is clear: Manus was created in China, and transferring control of its technologies to an American corporation would mean a drain of strategic AI developments abroad. Against the backdrop of escalating technological confrontation between the United States and China, Beijing is taking an increasingly hardline position on such deals. According to sources at TechCrunch, Chinese authorities officially ordered Meta to terminate the agreement and wind down any integration that might have begun.

Meta has not yet issued an official statement. The fate of Manus itself also remains unclear: the startup, which was on the verge of the largest exit deal in its history, is now forced to seek new investors or strategic partners — likely within the Chinese market. The deal blockade is a symptom of a broader process.

After export restrictions on chips, pressure on TikTok, and the introduction of barriers to American investments in the Chinese technology sector, Beijing's retaliatory regulatory measures are becoming the norm. AI agents have found themselves at the epicenter of this confrontation: the technology is too strategically significant to allow it to fall under the control of a foreign corporation. For Meta, the outcome is unambiguous — the company will either have to build agent competencies on its own, or search for an acquisition target outside China.

In any case, the gap with competitors in this segment risks widening: OpenAI and Google did not stop while the Manus deal was under review.