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Virginia Foxx Asks Interim 23andMe CEO About Cutting Off CCP Access To Sensitive Genetic Data
Forbes Breaking News
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6/11/2025
During Tuesday’s House Oversight Committee hearing, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) questioned Joe Selsavage, Interim Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial and Accounting Officer of 23andMe, Inc., about CCP access to the company’s data.
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00:00
Dr. Fox from North Carolina.
00:02
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to our witnesses for being here.
00:06
Mr. Selsavage, we all know the Chinese Communist Party, CCP, has a track record of misusing genetic data,
00:14
and even the New York Times acknowledged that, quote,
00:17
China uses genetic tests to track members of the Uyghurs, end quote,
00:22
who are a politically disfavored minority group.
00:25
This abuse can surely be perpetrated against any disfavored group whose genetic data is available.
00:34
How does 23andMe prevent the genetic data, mainly from Americans,
00:39
controlled by the company from being used by the CCP or some other malign actor to track or harm Americans?
00:47
Congresswoman, you know, 23andMe puts data security and privacy at the top of the forefront of our company.
00:53
You know, all of our data is secured with top security encryption.
00:59
You know, we have, you know, security professionals, you know, in place at 23andMe implementing the latest technologies in security,
01:08
and we've received, you know, three ISO certifications for the company in terms of security, cybersecurity, and privacy
01:16
to make sure that the data of our customers is secure.
01:20
In addition, you know, as, you know, after the cybersecurity incident, we made sure that, you know,
01:25
basically we've implemented two-factor authentication.
01:28
We've ensured that customers have reset their passwords, and we make sure that those passwords are not,
01:34
have not been, you know, basically in compromised databases anywhere to make sure that our customer data is safe.
01:40
Mr. Sellsavage, besides the 15 million individuals who have their genetic data stored with the company,
01:48
family members, by virtue of having a similar genetic makeup to those who took the test,
01:53
are also potentially at risk if 23andMe's genetic data is exposed or used for nefarious purposes.
02:01
Is that correct?
02:02
You know, if a customer at 23andMe chooses to allow their data to be shared, as such as a DNA relatives feature at 23andMe,
02:12
you know, people can access, can, relatives could actually, and family members can see that additional data, yes.
02:18
Ms. Wojewski, precisely because of concerns about the genetic information control by 23andMe falling into the wrong hands,
02:27
that the Pentagon warned its personnel in 2019 not to use consumer DNA kits.
02:33
How did 23andMe respond to the Pentagon's warning at that time?
02:39
Thank you for that question.
02:41
I have to say, in all honesty, we were surprised.
02:45
We had not been contacted.
02:47
We were surprised.
02:48
So we were happy to engage around that discussion as to what are the potential concerns,
02:53
but it was a surprise to us, and we did not get forewarning, and we did not, no one engaged afterwards.
03:01
So after the warning, did the company change the way it handled or protected consumers' genetic data?
03:09
Thank you for that.
03:11
There were not substantial changes because, as I mentioned,
03:14
privacy and data security had really been top priority since then, since the inception of the company.
03:22
So I would say after that notice and reading about that, it definitely became top of mind,
03:29
and I think the number one takeaway we had was really there should be an engagement around the understanding
03:34
of how we actually are making sure that we're securing data and how we're making sure that customers,
03:41
we're always honoring the customer's privacy.
03:44
So it was a great opportunity for us to consider engaging.
03:47
We always are reviewing our systems.
03:50
We're always looking at sort of the update of what else should we be doing with our security protocols,
03:55
and so that was the primary takeaway from that.
03:59
Do you believe there's anything could have been done to prevent the 2023 breach?
04:04
That is a, I appreciate that question.
04:09
I'm pretty limited with what I can say specifically around that because of the potential litigation
04:15
or the ongoing litigation around there.
04:18
The thing that we always said is that you have to be vigilant on a daily basis.
04:23
You have to always live in a world of paranoia because you see how many threat actors there are out there,
04:30
the number of security incidents that are there.
04:32
So the primary takeaway we always thought is like, what's also the product by design?
04:37
How are we making sure we're designing the product?
04:39
So if and when something happens that we're doing everything we can to protect the privacy of our customers,
04:44
the database security design has always been really important for us about making sure that if there ever was a threat actor,
04:51
how are we actually making sure that we're doing everything we can to prevent that?
04:55
So it was always top of mind for us to think about what those potential risks are.
05:02
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
05:04
I yield back.
05:04
Gentle lady yields back.
05:05
Chair, I recognize Ms. Brown.
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0:48
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