The Dark Side Of 23andMe You'll Wish You Knew About Sooner

In late 2007, science fiction became reality when 23andMe started selling home genetic testing kits to the public. For a few hundred dollars, people could collect a sample of DNA at home and send it by mail to 23andMe to learn about the human genome. As these kits became more popular, 23andMe started adding new capabilities, providing reports on risks of developing diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's and different types of cancer. However, with these benefits came a dark side that people should know about.

Knowing about where your ancestors once lived and your chances of developing type 2 diabetes can be valuable. But the amount of information that 23andMe has on its customers and how that information could be misused is definitely concerning. For instance, potential employers or insurers could use genetic data to make unfair hiring decisions, charge higher premiums, or deny coverage to people with deleterious genes like a genetic predisposition to develop chronic diseases. And with the growing threat of cybercrime, people are facing a greater risk of having their most private information, their genes, out in the wild.

Genome analysis has allowed scientists to narrow down sequences of genes that are associated with a variety of health conditions, making it a cancer research breakthrough. Not long after their founding, 23andMe morphed into a biomedical research company. The company eventually started offering customers reports on disease risk, with information on risks of developing Parkinson's and Alzheimer's in 2017. The following year they released a report on breast cancer risk, and in 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a report on predisposition to developing colorectal cancer. Similar reports on the odds of developing diabetes and heart disease followed in the years after.

These reports are meant to give consumers tools to make better health decisions. A 2026 study of more than 1,000 23andMe participants who had increased genetic risks looked into whether they shared that information with their physicians and what kinds of actions they took as a result. Fewer than half of the participants shared results with their physicians, but of those who did, 86% received preventive care recommendations, and 88% of those participants followed those instructions. Additionally, only a small fraction of the participants had undergone genetic testing, even if they knew they had a family history of a disease. This shows the value of self-administered genetic testing, and 23andMe is working with partners to improve data sharing with physicians.

However, with great power comes great responsibility, and 23andMe has perhaps not been as responsible as it should have been. In 2026, California sued 23andMe over a 2023 data breach saying the company didn't do enough to protect their customers' data and failed to disclose the severity of the breach to its stakeholders. Allegedly, data from that breach has even been found on the dark web. The United Kingdom's Information Commissioner's Office also fined 23andMe for inadequately protecting consumer data.

The risk of additional data breaches is something 23andMe customers should keep in mind; however, there's another risk to privacy to consider. The company, which is now under new ownership after bankruptcy, reserves the right to use genetic data to inform customers about new offerings. There is also the chance that genetic data could end up in the hands of insurance companies that might use that information to charge higher premiums or deny coverage — and which would be willing to pay a premium to get it. Such a use of data is not allowed under the company's terms of service, but it's not uncommon for such terms to change over time with little warning.

While the privacy risks from 23andMe are currently limited to the threat of future data breaches, the risk of having genetic information in another organization's hands is something to keep in mind. There is value to being able to screen for future health problems, but those benefits must be weighed against the dark side of privacy risks.