Planet Money
How 23andMe's bankruptcy led to a run on the gene bank
Sat, 26 Apr
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Reporter Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi's Aunt Vovi signed up for 23andMe back in 2017, hoping to learn more about the genetic makeup of her ancestors. Vovi was one of over 15 million 23andMe customers who sent their saliva off to be analyzed by the company. But last month, 23andMe filed for bankruptcy, and it announced it would be selling off that massive genetic database. Today on the show, what might happen to Vovi's genetic data as 23andMe works its way through the bankruptcy process, how the bankruptcy system has treated consumer data privacy in the past, and what this case reveals about the data that all of us willingly hand over to companies every single day.This episode was produced by Sylvie Douglis and edited by Jess Jiang. It was engineered by Harry Paul and Neal Rauch and fact-checked by Tyler Jones. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer. Find more Planet Money: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.Listen free at these links: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.Music: NPR Source Audio - "Lazybones," "Twirp," and "On Your Marks"Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Chapter 1: What happened to 23andMe's bankruptcy?
This is Planet Money from NPR.
A few weeks ago, I hopped onto a video call with a very special friend of the show. Just introduce yourself. Who are you? Who am I? Oh, come on.
I'm your auntie. This is my Aunt Vovi. I called her up to talk about an experience she had a few years ago with the genetics testing company 23andMe. Vovey is a lifelong learner. She loves anthropology and the story of human migration. So back in 2017, when 23andMe was all the rage, she was interested.
She thought that taking one of their tests might reveal how she fit into the evolutionary sweep of human history. So was part of the interest about using 23andMe about... Belonging. Maybe belonging to a much larger collective.
Chapter 2: Who is Aunt Vovi and why did she use 23andMe?
Aunt Vovee knew our family had been in Afghanistan for the last few hundred years. But she also wondered if this test might reveal the migration route our ancestors had taken out of Africa. She wondered if it might uncover some long-forgotten tale of star-crossed travelers on the Silk Road.
And so I bought a kit and I convinced some of my friends to do so as well.
You were patient zero. Yeah. Vovey and I actually talked about this at the time. By handing over her genome, she was automatically giving this company part of my DNA. After all, we share 25% of the same genome. And for me, it just wasn't clear what the consequences of all this might be. But Vovey's gonna Vovey, and she spent about $100, spit into a test tube, and sent it off to the company.
And even though she is the most cautious person I know when it comes to putting personal info online, she more or less breezed through 23andMe's terms and conditions. Yeah, I just probably said agreed without really reading the fine print. Well, that's daily life. Who has time for like a 250-page memo?
And when Aunt Vovey's test results arrived, she says they were pretty exciting. They said we had some Mongolian DNA and a little bit from Yakutsk all the way up in Siberia.
Then there was this thing that in the 1800s or so that there had been some... DNA from Great Britain. That was a total shock and surprise. Well, there were several wars in Afghanistan in the 1800s. Yes, and that was sort of a confirmation of, yes, of course these things happen.
A mysterious British interloper in the genome? This was the kind of hot ancestral goss Vovey had been hoping for. But then, not too long after, Vovey got an update from 23andMe. That's because the database was growing. As the company got more customers and more genetic data points, they were apparently updating their genetic results from time to time.
And the new update had come to a much less complicated conclusion about Vovey's origins. So it just said that I was 99.8% Afghan, basically. Vovie was a bit taken aback by this. After this string of intriguing genetic subplots, finding out her genome reflected the one place she'd known about all along felt a little bit like a letdown. And the British interloper had disappeared?
Yeah, completely. Oh.
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Chapter 3: What were Vovi's initial test results?
And with that, Vovi and I were off to 23andMe's website to tell them that it was time to let my genome go. We just go into your settings. Settings. And scroll all the way down to the bottom. Okay. Memberships, preferences, get a reward. No, don't be tricked. No. A reward? It just popped at me. Okay, now I'm going to delete your data.
After a couple hurdles, we found ourselves staring down a giant red delete button. It's right here. Why are you requesting to delete your data? What would you put in there? I don't trust you anymore. Sorry, 23andMe.
Yeah, you messed up. For a moment, Bovi just kind of hovered over the button.
How are you feeling? Are you feeling nervous?
Oh, no, not at all. Should we do it? Let's do it, Vov. Okay. Hold my hand.
Yes, your virtual hand. Okay, count down. In three, two, one. Press. Okay, now I have a new screen. Your data is being deleted. Hey!
Hey! Now, it'll still take a little time for the company to actually destroy the physical saliva sample that Bobi sent in to start her genetic journey. In the meantime, she says she'll think twice before breezing through the next privacy agreement she encounters. Because these days, you never know what intimate personal data might end up on the bankruptcy auction block.
For listeners out there who are new to Planet Money, first of all, welcome. Second, check out the rest of the feed for stories on Canadian tariffs, why many economists hate the idea of the president firing a federal reserve chair, or why everybody and their pet squirrel seem to have a meme coin these days.
This episode was produced by Sylvie Douglas. It was edited by Jess Jang, fact-checked by Tyler Jones, and engineered by Harry Paul and Neil Rauch. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.
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