Manus announced that it will soon resume its work as an independent company, after the Chinese authorities forced Meta to back out of its acquisition deal worth about two billion dollars.

Last December, Meta revealed its acquisition of Manos, a developer of versatile artificial intelligence agents, which was founded in China in 2022 before moving its headquarters to Singapore. However, since its announcement, the deal has faced scrutiny from regulatory authorities in both China and the United States.

The Chinese National Development and Reform Commission issued a decision last April to cancel the deal, considering that it conflicts with the rules regulating foreign investments, which led to the start of complex procedures to disengage the two companies.

This move came at a time when Beijing tightened restrictions on technology exports and cross-border deals, amid intensifying competition between the United States and China for the talent, data, and infrastructure needed to develop artificial intelligence technologies.
Manos said that some users will need to maintain backup copies of the data that was created as of December 29, 2025, the date of the announcement of the acquisition deal.

The company added: “This action represents part of the separation process from Meta, and we must implement it to comply with regulatory requirements in some parts of the world.”

Meta was planning to integrate Manus technologies into its products aimed at consumers and businesses, as part of a strong expansion strategy in the field of artificial intelligence that aims to build a subscription-based business and compete with companies such as Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic.

In its latest steps to strengthen its presence in the sector, Meta launched last week the first software agent specializing in writing codes, in a new attempt to transform artificial intelligence investments into direct revenue sources.