Did You Send In Your Data? Now What? 23 and Me Bankruptcy

When this wildly popular DNA test came out, I was a sure skeptic.  Even though my curiosity was really high, I had a little voice telling me that this might be a bad idea.  I saw so many people, as did many others, find out things about their ancestors, finding long lost family members, sometimes some health concerns that you could do something about before it was a real issue. Just so many great things just through sending in a sample and finding out so much information.  Awesome, right?

Get our free mobile app

Maybe not.  That was what was concerning me.  Even though all of those things listen above could be really interesting to find out, what about the sample?  What happens to that?  What if it falls into the wrong hands?  As to what those "wrong hands" could be?  I have no idea, but it was concerning to me, so I never did this.

Now, 23 and Me has filed for bankruptcy, and they are searching for a buyer.  With that said, now what?  What happens to the sample you sent in with all of that information that you found so interesting?

From KARE 11:

John Bringardner of Debtwire notes that any new buyer of 23andMe will have to comply with regulatory approvals that ensure “customer data won’t end up in unscrupulous hands.” Still, he says, risks remain.

“Personal data collected by 23andme has always been at risk,” Bringardner wrote in emailed commentary on Monday — pointing particularly to a 2023 data breach that compromised ancestral information for nearly 7 million 23andMe customers. He adds that litigation spanning from the aftermath of this breach helped drive up liabilities that eventually contributed to the current bankruptcy filing.

 

So, essentially, in theory, your information SHOULD be safe.  But, that does not mean that it is.  So, the recommendation is for you to go in and delete your information.  If you signed up for 23 and Me, you should have a login, and you can go in and delete your info.  I didn't do anything with 23 and Me, so I have no insight on how easy this is to do, but that is what the news outlets have been advising.  So - take the steps to do this.