China Ramps Up Scrutiny of a Meta A.I. Deal

The Chinese government is taking actions to penalize people linked to Meta’s $2 billion acquisition of Manus, a Singapore artificial intelligence start-up with Chinese roots, in an apparent effort to discourage Chinese A.I. executives from moving businesses offshore, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

Officials at China’s National Development and Reform Commission, a high-level ministry that oversees economic planning including A.I., called in Meta and Manus executives for a meeting late last week to express concerns about the deal, which was announced in December, said the people, who declined to be named publicly in order to discuss sensitive issues.

The scope of the Chinese government’s actions remains unclear but appears to include an effort to restrict Manus executives from departing China for Singapore, one of the people said. Beijing has issued exit bans in the past for corporate executives who were under scrutiny.

“The transaction complied fully with applicable law,” Andy Stone, a Meta spokesman, said in a statement. “The outstanding team at Manus is now deeply integrated into Meta.”

He added, “We anticipate an appropriate resolution to the inquiry.”

The Chinese Embassy in Washington said it was not aware of the specifics of the case. Manus and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.

Manus was founded by Chinese engineers and had a Chinese parent company before moving to Singapore. Last year, the start-up turned heads in Silicon Valley with an A.I. application that carried out complex tasks without human oversight.

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