Meta's $2 billion Manus acquisition under Chinese investigation over possible violations

Meta's recent $2 billion acquisition of AI assistant platform Manus appears not to have received warm welcome in Beijing, primarily driven by Chinese regulators.

While U.S. officials appear to have long accepted the legitimacy of the deal, China has voiced concerns regarding potential violations of technology export controls, as reported by the Financial Times.

By the end of 2025, when Benchmark led a financing round for Manus, the investment led to a controversy, leading U.S. Senator John Cornyn to express concerns on social media, which prompted inquiries from the U.S. Treasury Department regarding new regulations limiting American investments in Chinese AI companies. As a result, Manus relocated its operations from Beijing to Singapore in a bid to distance itself from China.

The freshest twist surrounding this melodrama is that Chinese regulators are now probing whether the Meta acquisition breaches export control laws, particularly questioning if Manus required an export licence when moving its core team to Singapore.

This practice, often referred to as "Singapore washing," has raised alarms in China, with officials anticipating it could encourage other Chinese startups to relocate to escape domestic supervision.

Experts suggest that if the deal proceeds without issues, it may pave the way for more Chinese AI startups to shift abroad. Historical precedents indicate that Beijing might intervene, as it has previously used export controls to change the outcome of the attempted TikTok ban during the Trump administration.

While the impact of this investigation on Meta’s plans to incorporate Manus’s AI technology is uncertain, complexities surrounding this $2 billion investment are intensifying.