Meta is dismantling its $2 billion acquisition of Chinese-founded agentic AI startup Manus, cutting the company off from internal systems and halting data sharing following a divestiture order from Beijing on national security grounds. Manus co-founders are reported to be in preliminary discussions to raise approximately $1 billion from outside investors to reclaim the startup, potentially through a Chinese joint venture structure and an eventual Hong Kong listing.
The forced unwinding underscores Beijing’s determination to retain control over strategically sensitive AI technology. Chinese authorities have simultaneously tightened travel restrictions on AI researchers and executives and are requiring government approval before top firms including Moonshot AI, StepFun, and ByteDance can accept US investment.
Meanwhile, internal tensions at Meta are intensifying. The company’s Applied AI unit, a three-month-old team of roughly 6,500 engineers and product managers assembled to generate training data for AI models, has become a flashpoint for employee discontent. Staff describe being transferred into the group without meaningful choice and assigned work they characterise as demoralising. More than 1,600 employees company-wide have signed a petition protesting a programme that monitors their activity for AI training purposes.
Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged in an internal memo that recent changes had caused distress, while chief product officer Chris Cox addressed what he described as a difficult environment on a separate employee call. The Applied AI team reports to chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth and is led by Maher Saba, a 12-year Meta veteran formerly of its Reality Labs division.
