Chinese Government Orders Withdrawal of Meta's Acquisition of AI Agent Manus

On April 27, 2026, China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) prohibited Meta Platforms' acquisition of AI agent startup Manus on national security grounds and ordered both companies to withdraw the transaction. According to Bloomberg and several major U.S. media outlets, the total deal value was "over approximately $2 billion," while some outlets such as Axios reported a scale of approximately $2.5 billion including an employee retention pool. The post-completion withdrawal of a cross-border M&A by Chinese regulators is extremely unusual, serving as a clear warning against the "Singapore washing" model that Silicon Valley VCs have leveraged. ---