Alarms raised by China's senior leadership regarding the potential risk of "selling seedlings"—a colloquial term often used to describe the unintentional or covert transfer of valuable technology or talent—have spurred relevant authorities to re-examine Meta's $2 billion acquisition of the Chinese AI startup, Manus. Sources with intimate knowledge of the situation reveal that China's Ministry of Commerce has embarked on a comprehensive evaluation, primarily focused on determining whether the transaction could result in the loss of pioneering technologies and top-tier talent. This scrutiny is being carried out in strict adherence to the pertinent laws and regulations governing export controls, technology imports, and exports, with the aim of gauging the acquisition's compliance with these standards.

Manus, a versatile AI agent crafted by a Chinese team, may possess core technologies that fall under the purview of restricted technologies outlined in China's "Catalog of Technologies Prohibited and Restricted from Export." Furthermore, the acquisition has sparked concerns regarding the security of data transfers across borders, prompting a re-evaluation of whether the security assessment procedures have been diligently followed in accordance with the law.