Fifteen million genetic profiles are suddenly up for grabs as 23andMe’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing transforms your DNA from a personal journey into corporate collateral. The genetic testing giant that once promised to unlock your ancestral secrets has hit financial rock bottom, converting its most valuable asset—your biological blueprint—into something that can potentially be auctioned off to the highest bidder.
The bankruptcy announcement comes less than two years after the company suffered a massive data breach affecting nearly 7 million customer accounts, creating a perfect storm of genetic data privacy concerns. For customers who swabbed their cheeks hoping to discover distant relatives or health predispositions, this financial collapse presents an unexpected twist in their relationship with the biotech company.
Your Genetic Data Becomes a Corporate Asset
When 23andMe collected DNA samples from millions of customers, few probably imagined their genetic information might one day become a bankruptcy asset. Yet that’s precisely what’s happening as the company, once valued at $6 billion after going public in 2021, now faces financial dissolution.
For 23andMe customers, this raises profound questions about data ownership. While the company has stated that customer data privacy would be an “important consideration” in any sale, legal experts point out that federal law provides surprisingly little protection for genetic information handed over to private companies.
The genetic testing business model has always involved a delicate balance—customers provide biological samples in exchange for ancestry insights, while companies monetize this data through pharmaceutical partnerships and research. Now that balance faces its ultimate stress test in bankruptcy court.
As one privacy advocate put it, “Your DNA isn’t just data—it’s the most personal biological identifier possible. Once it’s out there, you can’t change it like a password.”
Health Insurance Red Flags and Data Ownership
The bankruptcy raises immediate concerns about how genetic data might be used by potential buyers—particularly health insurance companies. While the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) prohibits health insurers from using genetic information for coverage decisions, the law has significant limitations.
GINA doesn’t cover life insurance, disability insurance, or long-term care insurance. This regulatory gap creates scenarios where your own genetic data could theoretically be used against you in insurance decisions if it falls into certain hands through a bankruptcy sale.
The situation exposes fundamental flaws in how American privacy laws treat genetic information. Unlike in Europe, where the GDPR provides stronger protections, U.S. customers largely rely on corporate privacy policies—the same policies that can become negotiable assets during bankruptcy proceedings.
This isn’t the first time tech companies have treated user data as a corporate asset rather than personal property, but genetic information represents a new frontier in the privacy debate.
How to Delete Your 23andMe Data Before Someone Else Owns It
For concerned customers, there are still options to protect genetic privacy, though the process isn’t as straightforward as hitting a delete button. California customers enjoy the strongest protections thanks to the Genetic Information Privacy Act (GIPA) and California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA), which explicitly grant the right to delete genetic data and destroy biological samples.
For everyone else, 23andMe’s account settings offer some control. If you previously consented to research using your genetic data, you can withdraw that consent through the “Research and Product Consents” section of your account settings. This doesn’t automatically delete your data, but it restricts how it can be used.
To completely remove your genetic information, you’ll need to delete your entire account—a more drastic step that many customers are now considering as the bankruptcy proceedings unfold. But the question remains: once data has been used in research or shared with partners, can it ever truly be deleted?
The Bigger Picture of Biological Data Ownership
23andMe’s collapse represents more than just another tech company bankruptcy—it’s a watershed moment for how we think about biological data ownership. The business model that treats human genetic information as a corporate asset is facing its most severe public test.
This bankruptcy coincides with growing concerns about how tech companies access our most private information, creating a broader conversation about data rights in the digital age. When the very essence of your biological identity becomes something that can be bought and sold during corporate restructuring, it forces a reevaluation of the bargains we’ve made with technology companies.
The outcome of 23andMe’s bankruptcy could establish precedents for how genetic data is handled in future corporate transactions. As pharmaceutical companies and big data firms eye the valuable genetic database, privacy advocates are pushing for stronger customer protections during the proceedings.
For the millions of people who trusted 23andMe with their most personal biological information, this bankruptcy serves as a stark reminder that in the current regulatory landscape, your genetic privacy is only as secure as the company storing it. And that’s a reality no ancestry test could have predicted.
Learn more about the legal challenges of protecting genetic information during bankruptcy proceedings and how this bankruptcy is affecting 23andMe’s 15 million customers.