Chinese Regime Blocks Meta’s Planned Acquisition of AI Startup Manus

Beijing’s investment security review halted the deal weeks before a planned US-China leaders’ meeting.

Technology company Meta Platforms at a booth during the AI+Expo Special Competitive Studies Project in Washington on June 2, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The Chinese communist regime’s economic planning agency said on April 27 that it had blocked foreign investment in Meta’s proposed acquisition of AI startup Manus.

The National Development and Reform Commission said it had “made a decision to prohibit foreign investment in the Manus project” and ordered the parties involved to withdraw the transaction.