In This Story
Genetic testing company 23andMe (ME-12.33%) filed for bankruptcy protection Sunday in the latest stage of a rocky road that included weak consumer demand and a 2023 data breach that jeopardized the genetic data of millions of customers.
Now, the company might get sold.
To facilitate a sale, the company has entered Chapter 11 proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, and CEO (and co-founder) Anne Wojcicki has resigned. Her bid to buy the company and take it private at 41 cents per share was rejected.
23andMe holds the genetic information of more than 15 million people worldwide. Ahead of the sale, some officials have started ringing the alarm for customers.
Although 23andMe has said there will be no changes to how it stores, manages, or protects customer data, California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a consumer alert Friday, reminding Californians of “their right to direct the deletion of their genetic data under the Genetic Information Privacy Act (GIPA) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).”
Your DNA is considered sensitive data but is less protected than you might think. There have been instances where it has been used to determine life or disability insurance rates based on risks in your genetic makeup.
The company does offer an option to permanently delete your account — 23andMe will stop using your DNA for research purposes, get rid of your genetic sample, and delete most of your genetic information from its databases.
“Most” is the caveat here. The company says it is “required to retain some information to comply with our legal obligations.” That means 23andMe can retain some genetic information, your date of birth and sex, and information related to your account (such as your email address) for a limited time. It’s uncertain how long that entails.
Deleting your account is irreversible. If you still want to go through with the process, here’s a step-by-step look at how to do it.
1. Log in to your 23andMe account, click on your account profile on the upper right corner of the website, and go to “account settings.”
2. Scroll down to the “23andMe data” section and click “view.”
3. Here, 23andMe will give you the option to download your data in machine-readable formats (.txt and .csv) before you delete it — this data includes things such as your ancestry composition raw data, health report summaries, DNA segments, and profile data of your DNA relatives. Downloading your data is optional and separate from the account deletion process, but it’s recommended by the company.
4. At the bottom of the page, click “permanently delete data.”
5. Check your inbox for an email from the company asking you to confirm your account deletion request. Once you confirm, 23andMe will begin the deletion process, and you will lose all access to your account.
6. If you face any difficulty throughout the deletion process, contact customercare@23andme.com for assistance.