Facebook owner Meta Platforms is set to fully unwind its acquisition of Chinese-founded artificial intelligence platform Manus, more than three months after Beijing blocked the deal on national security grounds, capping off another high-profile decoupling between the US and China in the critical area of AI.
On Tuesday, Manus wrote in a note to users that it would delete data by “certain users” generated on or after December 29, when Meta acquired the start-up, as part of the company’s transition back to independent operations.
Affected users were asked to back up their data from now until August 23, while unaffected users may continue using the service without disruption.
The data deletion is needed “to comply with regulatory requirements in specific parts of the world”, the note said, without specifying which requirements those are.
Launched in March 2025, Manus is an AI agent platform that autonomously executes tasks on behalf of users such as browsing the internet and writing reports.
Butterfly Effect, the start-up behind the platform, was founded in 2022 and had offices in Beijing and Wuhan before it rebranded Manus as a Singapore company last summer, a process that involved laying off China-based staff and scrubbing its Chinese online presence.
The move enabled the start-up to bypass US restrictions on capital and technology outflows to China, giving it access to cutting-edge US AI models from companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic, and advanced semiconductor chips from the likes of Nvidia.
The move also paved the way for its acquisition by Meta for a reported US$2 billion in late December, marking a rare instance of US-China technological collaboration amid heated competition between the two countries.
However, the deal quickly drew scrutiny from Beijing, which launched a months-long probe into whether the acquisition had violated Chinese regulations. The investigation concluded in April with an order for Meta and Manus to fully unwind the transaction, citing national security concerns.
Manus’ note to users on Tuesday did not disclose details about its future operations. Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings was in talks to become its new largest shareholder, the Financial Times reported in July, with other former Chinese early-stage investors in Manus, including ZhenFund and HSG, also involved in the talks to unwind the deal.
Since its acquisition, Meta has integrated Manus’ agentic AI features into flagship products such as Instagram, as well as provided some Manus team members with access to Meta’s offices and corporate accounts in Singapore, the South China Morning Post previously reported.
According to Manus’ latest note, user data will continue to be stored in the US and Singapore after its unwinding from Meta is completed. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
