Chinese regulators blocked Meta’s acquisition of AI startup Manus, prompting Manus to resume independent operations and delete some data from late December, citing compliance with regulatory requirements. Meta had agreed to buy Manus, an AI agent developed by Butterfly Effect, in a deal reportedly worth around $2 billion. China’s top economic planning body blocked the deal in April and ordered the parties to “withdraw the acquisition,” while Beijing also restricted travel for two Manus co-founders. Meta said the transaction complied fully with applicable law. The case marks a turning point in China’s crackdown on “Singapore-washing,” signaling that attempts to bypass national regulation will not be tolerated. Many former Manus investors, including Tencent, are in talks to retake stakes at a $2 billion valuation. In the U.S., Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg published an essay calling for competition against China and distributed AI. Meta also announced Glimmer, an open weight model developed partly from Muse Spark, arguing open models distribute superintelligence widely, unlike closed models from competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic.