Meta’s $2 billion Manus deal pushes away some of startup’s customers, who are ‘sad that this has happened’

CNBC January 21, 2026
Stephen Desaulniers, Julia Boorstin

Key Points

– Following Meta’s acquisition of Manus at the end of 2025, some of the AI startup’s customers bailed due to long-standing concerns about the new parent company.

– “I do not agree with a lot of Meta’s practices around data and how they essentially weaponize people’s personal data against them,” said Seth Dobrin, CEO of Arya Labs.

– Meta has struggled to develop a consistent strategy as it competes with OpenAI, Google and Anthropic in the market for AI models.

When Meta agreed to spend a reported $2 billion on Manus at the end of last year, the social media giant said it planned to take the startup’s subscription AI agent offering and “scale this service to many...

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