2025 Update: What Happens to Your Personal Genetic Data When 23andMe Files Bankruptcy and How to Protect It
Explore the implications of 23andMe's 2025 bankruptcy on millions of customers' genetic data. Understand the patchwork of U.S. privacy laws, expert advice on safeguarding your DNA information, and why your data remains vulnerable during corporate collapses.
In 2024, as the genetic testing leader 23andMe enters Chapter 11 bankruptcy, millions of customers face a pressing concern: What becomes of their deeply personal genetic data when a company folds?
With state attorneys general from New York to California urging users to secure their information, the precariousness of entrusting personal data to corporations has come into sharp focus. 23andMe’s extensive database, housing over 15 million genetic profiles—deemed a "digital gold mine" by cybersecurity experts—may soon be sold off to satisfy creditors.
Legal scholars like Sara Gerke, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, highlight a critical issue: the United States lacks a comprehensive federal privacy law, leaving many consumers without full control over their genetic data during such financial upheavals.
Key Insights
- When companies such as 23andMe declare bankruptcy, customer genetic data is often treated as a corporate asset that can be sold to repay creditors.
- Unlike the European Union’s robust GDPR protections, U.S. privacy laws are fragmented and inconsistent across states, offering limited safeguards for sensitive personal data.
What Happens to Your Data When the Company Disappears?
The fate of your genetic data during bankruptcy is largely dictated by privacy policies that most consumers rarely read. 23andMe assures customers that any buyer must comply with applicable laws regarding data treatment, but concerns remain.
Harvard Law Professor I. Glenn Cohen warns that successor companies might have weaker cybersecurity, alter privacy terms unfavorably, or eliminate benefits such as ancestry insights or health risk information that initially justified sharing your DNA.
Although medical data is protected under HIPAA, genetic information from direct-to-consumer tests exists in a legal gray zone. The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (2008) prevents discrimination based on genetics but does not restrict data sales or transfers.
Bankruptcy complicates matters further. While offering some consumer protections beyond typical mergers, the priority to repay creditors can pressure courts to approve sales of sensitive data to maximize financial recovery.
23andMe, alongside competitors like MyHeritage and AncestryDNA, holds one of the world’s largest DNA databases, intensifying the stakes for data privacy.
How to Safeguard Your Genetic Data Amid Company Financial Troubles
Experts recommend proactive steps to protect your sensitive information:
- Review privacy policies and laws: Understand clauses related to bankruptcy or acquisitions and familiarize yourself with your jurisdiction’s privacy regulations.
- Request account deletion: While not foolproof, deleting your account limits data exposure.
- Opt out of research programs: Withdraw consent to prevent further use of your data in studies.
- Monitor company communications and legal notices: Stay alert for bankruptcy announcements and regulatory interventions.
- Seek legal advice: Consumer class actions have sometimes secured data protections during bankruptcies.
Final Thoughts
Your genetic data is among the most valuable assets companies possess. Without stronger federal privacy laws, Americans remain at risk of losing control over their biological information when companies like 23andMe collapse. The 2024 bankruptcy underscores how easily such "digital gold mines" can change hands, sometimes without meaningful consumer consent, long after the original company ceases to exist.
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