California Attorney General Must Investigate 23andMe Sale
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a letter sent today, Public Citizen urged California Attorney General Rob Bonta to launch an immediate investigation into the transfer of 23andMe’s massive genetic database to a newly created nonprofit, TTAM Research Institute, warning that the transaction may violate California’s Genetic Information Privacy Act (GIPA). The sale, approved in bankruptcy court and orchestrated by 23andMe’s former CEO Anne Wojcicki, risks stripping millions of Californians of their right to control their DNA data.
“This is one of the most disturbing data transfers we’ve seen in recent memory,” said J.B. Branch, Big Tech Accountability Advocate at Public Citizen. “It is a privacy nightmare and makes a mockery of user consent. Disturbingly, the same company leadership that drove 23andMe to corporate failure is rebranding as a ‘nonprofit’ to recapture people’s most intimate data–their DNA.”
In the letter, Public Citizen detailed how the $305 million acquisition by TTAM, billed as a nonprofit but created and controlled by Wojcicki, raises serious legal and ethical concerns under GIPA. The law requires companies to obtain affirmative re-consent from users impacted for each new transfer of genetic data.
“Silence or inaction does not equal consent and years old ‘click-through’ agreements are woefully insufficient for something as sensitive as a person’s genome,” added Branch. “DNA is not just data, it is identity. And no corporation, no matter how it brands itself, should be allowed to bypass consent and sweep away people’s genetic autonomy behind closed doors. The California Attorney General has both the power and the duty to step in.”
Public Citizen is calling on the California Department of Justice to:
- Immediately initiate a formal investigation into TTAM Research Institute’s acquisition of the genetic database and the consumer protection concerns related to data transfer, privacy, and re-consent.
- Continue to defend the underlying principle of GIPA which establishes that in cases involving genetic data transfer affirmative re-consent is required from California consumers whose data is held.