NEW YORK/HONG KONG--Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said on Oct. 8 it was reviewing its involvement in Megvii Technology Ltd.'s planned initial public offering after the U.S. government placed the Chinese artificial intelligence firm on a human rights blacklist. The Trump administration said on Monday that Megvii and seven other Chinese companies were targeted because they were implicated in Beijing's repression of Muslim minority populations in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the far west of the country. In an emailed statement in response to a request for comment on the Alibaba-backed Megvii IPO, Goldman said it was "evaluating in light of the recent developments." Sources had previously told Reuters the listing was scheduled for Hong Kong in the fourth quarter and might raise as much as $1 billion. Other U.S. companies involved with the blacklisted Chinese firms, whether as investors or as underwriters, are also likely to re-evaluate their relationships, risk consultants and Silicon Valley lawyers said.

The Trump administration is adding a group of Chinese tech companies that develop facial recognition and other artificial intelligence technology to a U.S. blacklist over concerns that the tech is being used to repress China's Muslim minority groups. The move comes ahead of trade talks between the U.S. and China later this week, which one analyst said sets a "negative tone" for the negotiations. The 28 companies added to the blacklist include Hikvision and Dahua, both of which are global providers of video surveillance technology, as well as prominent Chinese AI firms such as Sense Time, Megvii and iFlytek. The Commerce Department on Monday placed the companies on a so-called Entity List for acting contrary to American foreign policy interests. The blacklist effectively bars U.S. firms from selling technology to the Chinese companies without government approval.

The United States is blacklisting a group of Chinese tech companies that develop facial recognition and other artificial intelligence technology that the U.S. says is being used to repress China's Muslim minority groups. A move Monday by the U.S. Commerce Department puts the companies on a so-called Entity List for acting contrary to American foreign policy interests. The blacklist effectively bars U.S. firms from selling technology to the Chinese companies without government approval. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a written statement Monday that the U.S. government "will not tolerate the brutal suppression of ethnic minorities within China." The blacklisted companies include Hikvision and Dahua, both of which are global providers of video surveillance technology.

The US has added 28 Chinese organisations to the Entity List for their suspected involvement in human rights and privacy violations against Muslim minority groups, particularly the Uyghur. As a result, the action will prohibit trade between the 28 entities and US companies. The Department of Commerce has not specified reasons for blacklisting the organisations, apart from ruling that they were "acting contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States". Among the trade-blocked companies are Hikvision and Dahua Technology, two of the world's largest video surveillance suppliers and manufacturers that have been implicated in AI surveillance operations and data collection against Muslim minorities. The Department of Commerce's report stated: "Specifically, these entities have been implicated in human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of China's campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, and high-technology surveillance against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other members of Muslim minority groups in the XUAR [Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region]."

The United States is blacklisting a group of Chinese tech companies that develop facial recognition and other artificial intelligence technology that the U.S. says is being used to repress China's Muslim minority groups. A move Monday by the U.S. Commerce Department puts the companies on a so-called Entity List for acting contrary to American foreign policy interests. The blacklist effectively bars U.S. firms from selling technology to the Chinese companies without government approval. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a written statement Monday that the U.S. government "will not tolerate the brutal suppression of ethnic minorities within China." The blacklisted companies include Hikvision and Dahua, both of which are global providers of video surveillance technology.