23andMe’s interim chief executive Joseph Selsavage told lawmakers on Tuesday that 1.9 million people, or about 15% of its customer base, have requested their genetic data be deleted from the company’s servers since it filed for bankruptcy protection in March.
Selsavage was speaking at a House Oversight Committee hearing, during which lawmakers scrutinized the company’s sale following an earlier bankruptcy auction. The bankruptcy sparked concerns that the data of millions of Americans who used 23andMe could end up in the hands of an unscrupulous buyer, prompting customers to ask the company to delete their data.
Pharmaceutical giant Regeneron won the court-approved auction in May, offering $256 million for 23andMe and its banks of customers’ DNA and genetic data. Regeneron said it would use the 23andMe data to aid the discovery of new drugs, and committed to maintain 23andMe’s privacy practices.
A federal bankruptcy court is expected to consider Regeneron’s bid for 23andMe later in June.
23andMe’s bankruptcy comes a year after it experienced a months-long data breach that exposed 6.9 million customers’ sensitive personal and genetics data. The company blamed the data breach on its customers for not using multi-factor authentication, rather than acknowledging its own failure to secure customers’ accounts, or its inability to detect the breach until months later.
Also on Tuesday, more than two dozen states, including Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania, sued 23andMe to challenge the sale of its customers’ private data. The states argue that the company cannot sell the data of its 15 million customers without their explicit permission.
TechCrunch has a short guide on how to delete your 23andMe data.
