Manus Becomes “Independent” Again Following $2B Meta Deal – And Deletes User Data
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AI agent provider Manus is returning to independent operations. Roughly eight months after Meta acquired the company for a reported $2 billion, the deal is being unwound at the behest of Chinese authorities. For some users, that has tangible consequences: data created since the acquisition date will be deleted at the end of August.
“Manus will soon return to operating as an independent company, which will see us continue to serve our millions of users around the world,” the company writes in a blog post dated August 11, 2026. It adds: “During this process, it is inevitable that some user accounts will be affected.”
What happens to the data
Specifically, this concerns data created by certain users on or after December 29, 2025 – the day Meta completed its acquisition of Manus. According to the company, that data will be deleted from August 23, 2026, 8:00 a.m. until August 24, 2026 (Singapore time).
Affected users have been able to back up their data since August 11 and can do so until August 23, 7:59 a.m. SGT – that is August 22, 7:59 p.m. EDT, or August 23, 1:59 a.m. CEST. A restoration portal is set to open on August 25 at 8:00 a.m. SGT (2:00 a.m. CEST). In between, affected accounts will have no access to Manus for around two days. Users who are not affected need to do nothing and can keep using the service throughout.
In the FAQ accompanying the blog post, Manus explicitly names the separation from Meta as the reason: “This is part of our separation from Meta; we must take this step to comply with regulatory requirements in specific parts of the world.” The company rules out a security incident as the cause: “No. This action stems from Manus’s transition to independent operations and the associated need to comply with regulatory requirements. It is not the result of a security incident.”
On where data will live going forward, the post states: “Our data is stored in the United States and Singapore.” Affected users are not to be charged for the backup period and will receive a “welcome-back bonus” after restoring their data. Notifications go out by email and via in-app alerts – users who signed up with an Apple ID or Facebook account need to check the in-app notifications, because Manus says it has no email address on file for them.
From viral hit to geopolitical case
Manus went viral in spring 2025 with a demo of a general-purpose AI agent. Behind the product is Butterfly Effect, a company originally from China that relocated its headquarters to Singapore in mid-2025. Meta announced the acquisition in late December 2025; the reported price was around $2 billion.
From Beijing’s perspective, the move to Singapore did not turn the deal into a foreign transaction. In April 2026, China’s economic planning agency NDRC blocked the acquisition and ordered it unwound – citing, among other things, violations of rules on outbound investment and technology export controls. Chinese officials subsequently described the deal as an attempt to hollow out China’s technology base. According to reports, Manus founders were temporarily barred from leaving the country; in parallel, Beijing tightened rules on international travel for AI specialists and on foreign investment in AI companies.
In June 2026, Meta began the operational separation: the company cut Manus off from its internal systems and ended data sharing between the two. Internally, staff were reportedly instructed to migrate ongoing projects off Manus and not to start new work on the platform.
Who owns Manus now
In early July 2026, it emerged that a consortium led by Tencent was buying back Meta’s stake at the original price of $2 billion. According to reports, early investors HSG (formerly Sequoia China) and ZhenFund are also involved; US investor Benchmark, which was paid out in the Meta deal, is said not to be part of the consortium. In parallel, the founders reportedly tried to raise around $1 billion for a buyback of their own. A joint-venture structure with Chinese participation and a later listing in Hong Kong are also under discussion.
This is precisely where the tension lies between the company’s self-description and its ownership structure: Manus speaks of returning “as an independent company,” while the shares are said to be held mostly by a consortium of Chinese investors around Tencent. Manus itself stresses that it operates independently. Detailed figures on stakes have not been made public; the numbers cited come from reports by Bloomberg, The Information and Chinese media and have not been confirmed in detail by the parties involved.
What else the company is announcing
On the product side, Manus holds out the prospect of new features in the blog post: “Looking ahead, we are already working on a series of new features that will once again push the boundaries of what is possible with general AI agents.” On the deletion itself, the company writes: “That said, we are aware of the disruption this causes. […] While this is unavoidable, we will support and guide you at every step of the process.”
For users in Europe, the practical takeaway is this: anyone who received a corresponding notification should back up their data via the backup tool before August 23, 1:59 a.m. CEST – and, if new tasks are created after that, do it a second time.
