If you've ever been interested in your ancestry and decided to take a test from a company called 23andMe, listen up: the things you submitted and found out might be in danger. A few days ago, it was announced that the company has filed for bankruptcy and that its CEO is stepping down.
Since the company was handling sensitive genetic data, people have been worrying about what will happen to it. California Attorney General Rob Bonta's warning to delete their information immediately only fueled this fire, while the company itself said there's nothing to worry about. This left everyone questioning — should they delete the data or not?
If you've ever taken a DNA test from 23andMe, listen up — your data might be in danger
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A few days ago, the company announced that it is filing for bankruptcy and that its CEO is stepping down
After the news that personal genomics and biotechnology company 23andMe has filed for bankruptcy and that its co-founder and CEO Anne Wojcicki has stepped down, concerns over what will happen with the data the company has collected have been raised.
On March 23rd, 2025, the company announced that it would be looking “to sell ‘substantially all of its assets’ through a court-approved reorganization plan.” Or, in other words, chapter 11 bankruptcy – the company will seek new ownership.
Image credits: Thirdman / Pexels (not the actual photo)
In addition to this news, it was announced that Anne Wojcicki, 23andMe co-founder, is stepping down as CEO after nearly 20 years with the company, but will remain on its board. She explained that she resigned from her post so she could be “in the best position” as an independent bidder during the company's sale during the bankruptcy process.
With this turmoil, the customers started worrying about the safety of their data. The company became known for its saliva-based DNA testing kits, which were purchased by millions of customers wanting to learn about their ancestry. So, knowing it holds so many people's important data, worrying about where it will end up with new ownership is understandable.
For this, the company announced that its bankruptcy filing won’t change the way it stores and protects data and that data privacy will be “an important consideration” in any future sale.
The news was met with worry about what will happen to the sensitive data the company has collected over the years
Image credits: Tima Miroshnichenko / Pexels (not the actual photo)
At the same time, California Attorney General Rob Bonta has recommended that customers had better delete their genetic data immediately, place a request for their sample to be destroyed, and revoke permission for it to be used for research purposes. It’s being said that, given that, despite the company’s reassurance, its future is uncertain, it is better to be safe than sorry when it comes to vulnerable information like this.
Besides, it’s not the first time that 23andMe has had to worry about the safety of its data. Back in October of 2023, the company suffered from a data breach. Hackers stole the profile and ethnicity information of around 6.9 million users.
Stolen data included things like name, profile photo, birth year, location, family surnames, grandparents' birthplaces, ethnicity estimates, and any information in the “about" section, as well as mitochondrial DNA haplogroup, Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup and link to external family tree. A sample of these data points was exposed on the black-hat hacking crime forum BreachForums.
Even California Attorney General highly suggested people delete their data as soon as possible, just to be safe
Image credits: Nicola Barts / Pexels (not the actual photo)
This is not the only hardship the company, which was founded in 2006, has faced in its history. In fact, it has been facing an uncertain future for a while now. For instance, it has battled with trying to go private, as it struggled to find a profitable business model ever since it went public in 2021.
In November of 2024, it laid off 40% of its workforce (around 200 positions) as a part of its survival plan, since the share price had fallen more than 70% in said year. So, turmoil isn’t something the company is unfamiliar with.
What matters the most now is how it’s going to deal with this crisis – unsafe data isn’t something to joke about. Let’s just hope that the promises it has made about being serious when it comes to that will be realized.
The fact that it isn't the first time the company has had problems with data safety only added to the panic people online felt
