Genetic testing giant goes bankrupt, Americans fear information leak

California Attorney General Rob Bonta is urging people to delete their genetic data from their accounts on the 23andMe website to avoid having their information exposed if the company goes bankrupt.

Genetic testing kit or DNA test of 23andMe Company - Photo: REUTERS

According to Yahoo News, the market value of genetic testing service company (also known as DNA testing) 23andMe peaked at nearly $6 billion after going public in 2021. However, 23andMe reported a 7% decrease in revenue, a loss of $174 million in the first nine months of fiscal year 2024 - 2025.

On March 23, the company with more than 15 million customers worldwide suddenly announced that it had voluntarily filed for bankruptcy and is now seeking court approval to sell most of its assets.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta also urged and instructed 23andMe customers in California to delete their personal and genetic information from their accounts on the company's website.

“I urge Californians to be mindful of their privacy rights. We also require 23andMe to delete personal user data and destroy all customer genetic testing samples the company has stored,” Bonta said.

According to US media, 23andMe Company announced on March 23 that it had filed for bankruptcy due to low consumer demand for the company's genealogy testing kits.

In addition, the company's reputation has been on the decline since British and Canadian data protection authorities investigated 23andMe in connection with a data breach in 2023.

Specifically, in 2023, hackers accessed the personal information pages of about 14,000 user accounts on the 23andMe website over a period of five months. The hackers appeared to primarily target Jewish and Chinese user accounts.

The incident left millions of 23andMe customers worried about the potential exposure of their personal information, leading to a lawsuit against the company.

By the end of 2024, 23andMe will have settled the lawsuits of its customers and agreed to establish a $30 million fund to monitor information security for users whose personal information was exposed over the past three years.

Before 23andMe went bankrupt , many people used the company’s service, which involved sending in saliva samples via a kit to be tested to learn about their ancestry, family history, and potential genetic diseases.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/ga-khong-lo-xet-nghiem-di-truyen-pha-san-dan-my-so-bi-lo-thong-tin-20250325132430874.htm