Mark Zuckerberg. Credit line: Jeff Chiu / AP / Profimedia
China announced on January 8 that it was investigating its acquisition of Chinese AI startup Manus by Meta Platforms to verify whether the transaction complied with export control and technology transfer laws, CNBC News reports.
Meta, led by Mark Zuckerberg, bought Singapore-based Manus in December 2025.
Although the terms of the transaction were not disclosed, the Wall Street Journal reported, based on sources, that the value of the agreement exceeded 2 billion dollars.
On Thursday, January 8, China's Ministry of Commerce issued a press conference announcing that it will assess how the acquisition complies with laws and regulations on export control, technology import and export, and foreign investment.
“The Chinese government consistently supports the conduct of mutually beneficial transnational operations and international technological cooperation in accordance with the law,” ministry spokesman He Yadong said at the press conference.
AI has become the new priority of Meta, which operates Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, amid increasingly intense competition with other global tech giants.
What is Manus
Manus went viral in 2025 on X after releasing in March 2025 its first general AI agent capable of making decisions and executing tasks autonomously with far fewer instructions than AI chatbots like ChatGPT and DeepSeek. Analysts called it China's next DeepSeek and it was praised by Chinese state television, Reuters notes.
Manus started as a product of Chinese startup Butterfly Effect, also known as Monica.im, before becoming a separate entity and relocating to Singapore in early 2025.
In July, Manus laid off most of its employees in Beijing amid plans for global expansion. The startup announced that, after the acquisition by Meta, it would continue its activity in Singapore and had 105 employees in Singapore, Tokyo and San Francisco.
The company said it surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue in December, just eight months after launching the product, claiming it was the fastest startup in the world to reach that level.
