The popular DNA testing company 23andMe, which was once worth over $6 billion, announced as of yesterday that it has filed for bankruptcy. That puts the company — and the DNA of anyone who has used the service — up for sale.
As reported by TechRadar, because the company initiated voluntary Chapter 11 proceedings, they have “facilitated a sale process to maximize the value of its business.” A quote from the company says that they have “determined that a court-supervised sale process is the best path forward to maximize the value of the business.”
However, that puts their customers in a somewhat uncertain position as the customer data that was submitted to the company as part of its testing process could also be up for sale. The 23andMe privacy statement — which all customers agree to in order to use the service — specifically states that the company may sell personal information if it ever becomes involved in bankruptcy proceedings.
How to delete your 23andMe data
If you’re in California, you’re protected more than most. The California Attorney General issued an urgent customer alert detailing the steps consumers can take to protect their data before selling the company.
While these steps are intended to protect California consumers, who are protected by that state’s laws, nothing is stopping other 23andMe customers from also completing these steps to try and protect their personal information as well.
First, download a copy of your data for your personal storage before selecting “Delete Data” in the 23andMe Data section.
Next, you can delete all your account and personal information from the Settings section of your profile. Deleting your account should ensure that your personal data, including genetic data, gets deleted.
If you’ve opted to have any biometric data stored by 23andMe, such as DNA or saliva, you can change this preference and get it destroyed by the company by switching this in the Preferences section.
You can also revoke your permission for your genetic data to be used in any research capacity in the Research and Product Consents section, which can be found on the account settings page.
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