Meta's acquisition of Manus escalates: China punishes those involved, potentially including travel restrictions for executives.

The Chinese government is taking punitive measures against those associated with Meta's $2 billion acquisition of Manus, a Singapore-based AI startup with Chinese ties. Sources familiar with the matter say the scope of the Chinese government's actions is unclear, but appears to include restricting Manus executives from traveling from China to Singapore. Meta spokesman Andy Stone stated that the deal is fully compliant with applicable laws and that the Manus team is now deeply integrated into Meta. In January, Chinese officials said they were investigating whether the deal violated Chinese regulations on technology export approvals. This comes at a sensitive time in US-China relations, with President Trump scheduled to visit Beijing at the end of the month to meet with Chinese leaders, but Trump said on Monday he had asked the Chinese side to postpone the visit. Shengyu Wang, a research assistant at the Asia Society Policy Institute, believes that the Chinese government's scrutiny of Meta may be a way to create leverage before trade negotiations, and also a signal to Chinese AI researchers to prevent them from following Manus's lead.