HONG KONG (AP) — China on Monday blocked Meta’s acquisition of artificial intelligence startup Manus, which originated in China but is based in Singapore.
China’s top planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, said in a brief statement that foreign acquisitions of Manus were prohibited and all parties were asked to withdraw from the deal. It did not specifically name Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.
The statement said the decision was made by the Office of the Foreign Investment Security Review Working Mechanism in accordance with Chinese laws and regulations. This comes after Chinese authorities said earlier this year they were investigating the deal.
The committee did not elaborate on the reasons for the ban.
Meta first announced its acquisition of Manus in December, a rare case of a major U.S. technology group acquiring an artificial intelligence company with close ties to China. Its deal with Manus is expected to help expand AI offerings on the Meta platform, with Manus’ “general-purpose” AI agents capable of autonomously performing complex, multi-step tasks.
Mehta has said that “China will no longer have an ownership interest in Manus” and that Manus will cease services and operations in China. But China said in January it would investigate whether the acquisition complied with its laws and regulations.
China’s Ministry of Commerce stated at the time that any company engaging in foreign investment, technology export, data transfer and cross-border acquisitions must abide by Chinese laws. Mehta has said that most of Manus’s employees are in Singapore.
Meta said in response on Monday that the transaction was “fully compliant with applicable law.” “We expect the investigation to be appropriately resolved,” the California-based company said in a statement.
