Manus is becoming an independent company again after Chinese regulators ordered Meta to unwind its roughly $2 billion acquisition of the AI agent startup. The company said Tuesday that, as part of the separation, it will delete data created by some users on or after Dec. 29, 2025. Those affected have until 7:59 p.m. EDT on Aug. 22 to back up their data.Which users are affectedThe company has not been clear as to which regions are affected but says all users involved will receive a notice by email or in the Manus app. The company recommends backing up more than once if a new task data is made after saving the first copy. Once users lose access to Manus, they will be able to begin restoring their accounts when the portal opens at 8 p.m. EDT on Aug. 24. Manus said it will not charge them during the backup period and will give them bonuses once their data has been restored.The company describes the material covered by the process only as “data generated” since Meta acquired it. Its announcement does not specify whether that includes task histories, uploaded files, generated applications, connector configurations or other account information.How the deal unraveled Manus was founded in China before moving to Singapore and builds general-purpose agents that can conduct research, work with files, use software and complete tasks with multiple steps. Meta announced its acquisition of the company in December 2025, but the deal soon came under scrutiny in China and the United States. Chinese officials began investigating whether the sale broke the country’s foreign-investment rules or moved technology developed in China into the hands of a U.S. company.In April, China’s National Development and Reform Commission ordered the transaction withdrawn. That began the process of separating Manus from Meta several months after the acquisition had been announced.“This is part of our separation from Meta; we must take this step to comply with regulatory requirements in specific parts of the world.”“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.The experience points to a risk companies may not consider when choosing an agent platform. A vendor can promise to keep the product running after an acquisition, but it cannot guarantee that regulators will let the deal stand. As the economic layer forming around AI services becomes more complex, moving away from one of those platforms becomes harder.Agent data needs portabilityThe work an AI agent collects and creates should be protected like any other application data. Before a team builds important workflows around one platform, developers should know exactly what they can take with them, what gets left behind and whether the exported data can be restored anywhere else. They also need to understand which parts of the operation would stop if the platform or one of its connected services became unavailable.The work an AI agent collects and creates should be protected like any other application data.Meta’s AI push continuesMeta had planned to incorporate Manus technology into its consumer and enterprise products as part of a wider attempt to build revenue around AI. It has continued that push elsewhere, including last week’s release of its first coding agent and a distilled model small enough to run on a laptop. That coding launch also followed an internal effort to retrain its own engineers on AI-assisted development.Manus, meanwhile, says it is preparing new features and expects users to return to the service after the restoration window. Manus, meanwhile, says it is preparing new features and expects users to return to the service after the restoration window. The post Your AI agent remembers everything. Here’s what happens when its owner changes. appeared first on The New Stack.