Manus is returning to independence after Chinese regulators forced Meta to unwind its roughly $2 billion purchase of the AI agent startup, according to an announcement the company made Tuesday. As part of the separation, Manus will erase information created by certain users on or after Dec. 29, 2025, giving those affected until 7:59 p.m. EDT on Aug. 22 to save their work. The case illustrates how regulatory intervention can derail major tech acquisitions months after they're announced, leaving users scrambling to protect their data.
The company hasn't specified which geographic regions face data loss, saying only that affected users will receive email or in-app notices. Users can begin restoring their accounts when the portal reopens at 8 p.m. EDT on Aug. 24. Manus won't bill customers during the backup window and will offer bonuses once information is restored. The firm describes the material at risk only as "data generated" since Meta's takeover, without clarifying whether that covers task histories, uploaded files, built applications, connector settings, or other account details. The company advises backing up multiple times if new task information appears after the first save.
Meta announced the Manus acquisition in December 2025, but the deal quickly drew scrutiny in both China and the United States. Chinese authorities launched a probe into whether the sale violated foreign-investment regulations or transferred technology developed in China to an American corporation. In April, China's National Development and Reform Commission ordered the transaction reversed, triggering the separation process months after the deal was disclosed. "This is part of our separation from Meta; we must take this step to comply with regulatory requirements in specific parts of the world," Manus said in its notice. Manus was established in China before relocating to Singapore and builds general-purpose agents capable of conducting research, managing files, operating software, and finishing multi-step tasks.
The episode highlights a danger companies may overlook when selecting an agent platform, according to the report. A vendor can pledge to maintain service following an acquisition, but can't ensure regulators will permit the deal to proceed. As the economic infrastructure surrounding AI services grows more intricate, migrating from one of these platforms becomes increasingly difficult. The report argues that the work an AI agent gathers and produces deserves the same protections as any other application data. Before a team constructs critical workflows around a single platform, developers need to know precisely what they can export, what stays behind, and whether exported information can be restored elsewhere. They also need to grasp which operational components would halt if the platform or one of its linked services became unavailable. Meta had intended to integrate Manus technology into its consumer and enterprise offerings as part of a broader strategy to generate AI-driven revenue, a push that's continued with last week's debut of its first coding agent and a compact model capable of running on a laptop. Manus says it's developing new capabilities and anticipates users will rejoin the service after the restoration period. As agent platforms embed themselves deeper into business operations, the portability of the workflows and data they steward will determine whether companies can weather ownership changes without losing months of accumulated work.