Meta’s $2 billion acquisition gets blocked by China. What the deal was all about in the first place.

meta's $2 billion deal to buy a chinese company working on autonomous ai products got blocked on monday. the target firm — whose name wasn't disclosed — makes hardware and software for self-driving systems. china's antitrust regulator rejected the acquisition, citing national security concerns. meta had been pursuing the deal since early this year, hoping to expand its hardware capabilities beyond vr headsets. the block leaves meta without a clear path into autonomous tech in china, where local competitors like baidu and bytedance are already deep in the space.