23andME, a company that uses biometric information to create genetic databases to help people find relatives and family members, is facing collapse, raising concerns about the privacy of tens of millions of people.
The company offers a service that uses a person’s saliva and personal information to create a database of personal genetic information to locate relatives living in other regions or countries and trace family roots. The service costs between $70 and $600, depending on the content, and is used by thousands of adopted children and families, including those from South Korea.
Founded in 2006, the company has been on its way up since 2010, competing with other leading companies in the industry. To date, it has nearly 15 million registered clients. However, the company has been experiencing a serious revenue slump since last year due to inflation and declining demand.
On November 13, 23andME announced that it would lay off 40% of its current workforce which is about 200 people to reform its business structure. The company’s decline has been driven by a drop in revenue from $50 million in the second quarter of last year to $44.1 million in the same period this year.
Last year, the company also had to pay tens of millions of dollars in compensation to individuals following a customer data breach. The company’s increased investment in “telehealth” to expand business has contributed to its woes as well.
The issue is, what happens to personal biometric information when a company closes or is sold?
For one thing, it is not subject to national healthcare laws because the company is not a healthcare company.
Customers can check the terms and conditions, and they can request to have their records deleted.
The company says that the terms with current customers are bound even if the company is sold. This means that it will still be kept safe. If a customer wants to delete their data, they can log in to the company’s site and delete their account, the company said.
However, some pointed out that there is still a lingering distrust of the company due to last year’s data breach.
One user wrote on X that they “believe they may be selling your information by sneaking around the terms and conditions,” and advised that “if you don’t trust them, delete or create an account with another company in the same industry.”
23andME has been providing clues to reuniting adoptees in the U.S. and Canada, with many registered in South Korea and Southeast Asia through its database.
BY BRIAN CHOI, HOONSIK WOO [woo.hoonsik@koreadaily.com]
