Loading your audio article
By Jonathan Randles | Bloomberg
23andMe Inc. said Tuesday that it experienced website delays, after a wave of customers sought to delete their genetic data before it can be sold through a planned bankruptcy auction.
RELATED: Here’s how to delete your data from a 23andMe account
A company spokesperson said the site “experienced some issues and delays due to increased traffic” on Monday, in response to Bloomberg News questions about whether users were facing issues trying to close their accounts. Those problems have since been resolved, the spokesperson said, advising users to contact customer support if they continue to encounter trouble deleting their data.
Still, while some said on social media Tuesday they had succeeded in logging in and deleting their data, other people said they were still unable to access their accounts.
Ruthann Miller, 37, promptly received an email from 23andMe when she sought to reset her password to log in to her account, but didn’t receive a “verification code” from the company that would allow her to do so, she told Bloomberg News on Tuesday.
“I’ve been checking my email rather frequently,” Miller said. She’s checked her spam folder, too, but hasn’t received a code, she added.
Meanwhile, some customers on social media said they’d keep their accounts and weren’t concerned about a possible sale of their data because a transaction will be overseen by regulators and a federal judge.
But for Miller, she’s concerned that 23andMe users don’t know who could end up buying users’ genetic information or if a purchaser could use the information for nefarious purposes.
For example, she said, could health information contained in her or her husband’s genetic data be used by an insurance company to increase their coverage costs? Miller said she’s also concerned that the company will only sell to whoever pays the most.
Federal law prohibits companies from using genetic information for health insurance or employment, said Abe Schwab, a philosophy professor at Purdue University Fort Wayne, who has studied genomic privacy in the US. The same restriction, however, doesn’t apply to other types of insurance, like life insurance or long-term disability insurance, Schwab said.
23andMe has said the Chapter 11 reorganization doesn’t change how it stores or protects personal data and that any buyer will be required to comply with applicable laws with regard to treatment of such information.
The proposed auction, currently scheduled for May, sheds light on an aspect of corporate bankruptcies that receives relatively little notice: customer data is a valuable asset that often changes hands when a hospital, nursing home, pharmacy or retailer.
The Justice Department said last year that although the development of health technology and pharmaceuticals is heavily regulated, the sale of genomic data “appears common and is currently virtually unregulated.”
23andMe’s bankruptcy will likely provide more oversight. Any auction will be overseen by a federal judge and be monitored by the Justice Department and state attorneys general, some of whom have issued consumer alerts instructing 23andMe users how to delete their data. Regulators could also seek the appointment of a consumer privacy ombudsman to provide additional independent oversight of customers’ privacy interests in Chapter 11.
The varying levels of concern from 23andMe customers on whether they should delete their data or not likely reflects how risk-averse or risk-taking each user is, Schwab said. Currently, it’s not known if the genetic data will be sold and to whom, or how much for. It’s also unknown how many users will delete their data prior to the sale.
“Anybody giving a definitive answer is jumping to a conclusion they don’t have evidence to support,” Schwab said.
23andMe’s first bankruptcy hearing is scheduled for Wednesday in St. Louis, Missouri.
The case is 23andMe Holding Co., 25-40976, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis).
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
