Republican Rep. James Comer gave on Tuesday a hard deadline to a 23andMe board member to provide documents and communications related to the company's recent bankruptcy filing as the House Oversight Committee investigates related "national security and data privacy concerns."
In a letter addressed at company board member Anne Wojcicki, Comer said that the bankruptcy filing "raises significant concerns regarding potential transfers of customers' and family members' sensitive personal data to various interested entities, including the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)."
The document went on to note that one of the companies that provided funding to 23andMe had ties to the CCP and the Chinese People's Liberation Army. It then quoted a New York Times article claiming that the CCP has a "track record of misusing genetic data," including using "genetic tests to track members of the Uyghurs, a predominantly Muslim minority group."
Your DNA belongs to you, NOT CHINA or any other bad actors! 📵🇨🇳
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) April 15, 2025
Chairman Comer (@RepJamesComer) is investigating the national security and data privacy concerns resulting from @23andMe’s bankruptcy filing.
Read the letter ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/gmJbmMofL1
There is also the danger that data from 23andMe users could be used for "assessing higher insurance premiums, restrictions on credit extensions by financial institutions, and targeted advertising," the letter added. Considering the "risk for consumers" and the possibility that the company is sold to the highest bidder, the committee made two requests to Wojcicki:
"All documents and communications in your personal possession or control relating to 23andMe's bankruptcy filing" and "all documents and communications in your personal possession or control addressing 23andMe's sale, potential sale, transfer, or potential transfer of users' data and genetic information."
Hundreds of thousands customers have called to the company to request their DNA samples be released since it declared bankruptcy, with some officials like the California Attorney General's Office urging people to delete their data and have the company delete their saliva samples.
The company had already been under scrutiny in 2023 after a data breach exposed the data of almost 7 million people. Back then, the company signed an agreement involving a $30 million settlement and three years' worth of security monitoring.
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