U.S. Senator Katie Britt Grills 23andMe Interim CEO on Gender Identity, Urges Privacy Protections for Children’s Genetic Data

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.) attended a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing entitled “23 and You: The Privacy and National Security Implications of the 23andMe Bankruptcy.” Witnesses included 23andMe’s Interim CEO.

Senator Britt began her line of questioning by focusing on the privacy standards of the company: “Would you commit today to the same privacy standards that you have demanding those of the company that purchases 23andMe?” to which Mr. Selsavage responded, “Yes, that is a requirement.”

The Senator then asked what the company tests for—specifically, whether they test for sex—confirming with him that XY chromosomes indicate male and XX indicate female. When he agreed, Senator Britt pressed him further: “On your database, though, you go into saying that if people self-identify of another gender that you will attempt to give them a prognosis of the gender that they identify with versus the gender that they test for?”

When the witness said he wasn’t aware of his own company’s policies, Senator Britt read information directly from the 23andMe website, which in part said, “We understand that sex is not always binary…We also recognize that being categorized by birth sex may be an uncomfortable or triggering experience to some and we do not mean to delegitimize anyone’s gender identity or expression. We use your self-reported sex to customize your health and trait reports.”

“…[I]f it’s a genetic female that identified to you as a male, would you test them for male pattern baldness?” the Senator asked.

Mr. Selsavage confirmed they would test a biological female for male pattern baldness at the customer’s request. “I think probably the DNA is what’s best for predicting actual future disease or harm or what may come good or bad for the individual,” stated Senator Britt.

Senator Britt went on to advocate for the data privacy of children whose information was collected by 23andMe, urging the interim CEO to commit to deleting all minors’ data before any sale. When asked, Mr. Selsavage could not answer the total number of minors whose data had been collected.

“I think we have to be vigilant when it comes to children and their DNA. We’ve talked today about all of the potential risk that could occur from privacy to security risk obviously blackmail amongst a number of things,” the Senator said.

To view the full line of questioning, click here

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