Manus, a Chinese artificial intelligence startup, announced on the evening of Aug. 11 that it will resume operations as an independent company and continue to serve users globally. The announcement comes after Chinese authorities blocked U.S. tech giant Meta's proposed acquisition of Manus, with both parties now in the process of unwinding the deal – and the restoration of independent operations marks the latest development in that process.
In its statement, Manus said that in order to meet regulatory compliance requirements, user data generated on and after Dec. 29, 2025, will need to be processed accordingly and may even be deleted. The company added that it is taking a series of measures to ensure a smooth transition, and affected users will be notified via the Manus app and email, with the option to back up their data.
Unlike traditional chatbots, Manus is positioned as a "general-purpose AI agent" capable of autonomously using tools to complete complex tasks in the cloud – including data collection, data analysis, programming, and presentation creation. The startup quickly went viral after its launch in March last year. Meta announced in December that it planned to acquire Manus for more than US$2 billion.
In April this year, China's Office of the Inter-Ministerial Joint Conference for Foreign Investment Security Review issued a decision, in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, prohibiting the foreign acquisition of the Manus project and requiring the parties to unwind the transaction. According to Bloomberg, since the acquisition was halted, Meta has internally separated its operations from Manus and ceased data sharing between the two companies.
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