While You Were Sleeping: 23andMe Disrupts DNA Relatives
Wake up. Change is afoot. Over a decade ago, 23andMe, the biotech start-up that sought to revolutionize healthcare, instead revolutionized genealogy. In 2009, 23andMe’s Relative Finder (now DNA Relatives) became the first direct-to-consumer DNA tool to use autosomal DNA to connect customers as relatives, offering new windows into family history. 23andMe’s invention begat millions of DNA test kit sales. As 23andMe’s database grew, so did the quantity of relatives and revelations. The depths of discovery seemed limitless. Now, in 2020, 23andMe has enacted discouraging changes that undermine the work of the genealogists among the firm’s long-term devotees.
23andMe has tightened their DNA Relatives cap, reducing the maximum number of accessible DNA matches from 2000 to 1500, without directly notifying all customers. While in previous years, customers could overcome the 2000-match limit by sending all of one’s genetic relatives invitations to connect, 23andMe has made the new hard and fast 1500-match cap almost insurmountable.
23andMe has also reduced the utility of standard DNA Relatives search, sort, and filtering tools. Customers can no longer search for matches who have a certain Y-DNA or mitochondrial DNA haplogroup. Customers can no longer use ancestral surnames or the text of one’s notes as DNA Relatives search criteria on 23andMe’s standard site. Customers can no longer use anything other than a match’s first and/or last name to search DNA Relatives. 23andMe has re-designed the core DNA Relatives experience to make these stringent changes to the product’s search almost intractable.
23andMe has only offered one way to reclaim access to lost matches and lost functionality: Subscribe to 23andMe+. For an annual fee of $29, 23andMe+ will permit users who have tested with 23andMe’s Ancestry+Health V5 product to access up to 5000 DNA Relatives and advanced search and filtering tools (including capabilities that were once part of the default DNA Relatives experience). If, like many 23andMe customers, one has tested with an earlier version of 23andMe or an Ancestry Only product, then one must pay to “upgrade” to Ancestry+Health V5, a price that could be as high as $125, plus subscribe to 23andMe+ for an additional $29 per year.
23andMe’s ill-timed and ill-conceived product strategy has already exacted a swift, devastating toll on the genetic genealogy community. Many customers have lost thousands of useful matches, data points, and projects that they have, in some cases, spent more than a decade cultivating. Not everyone wants to transition to 23andMe+. And not everyone can. For some with limited resources, the increased cost is a significant consideration. For others, the conundrum 23andMe has created lacks an adequate solution. Some genealogists used 23andMe’s older platforms to test and manage the DNA profiles of elderly relatives – the last of the oldest living generation – and those elderly relatives cannot retest on the required Ancestry+Health V5 platform; these elders have died. 23andMe has yet to clarify whether one can re-test biobanked samples for this “upgrade.” For many, the loss of data and functionality under 23andMe’s new product strategy is permanent. One cannot overstate how shockingly offensive and tone deaf 23andMe’s agenda appears nor can anyone ignore the catastrophic damage the company’s recent product decisions have caused.
Attempting to artificially inflate demand for 23andMe’s Ancestry+Health tests while monetizing access to what were once standard features, at this time, seems indecent and arrogant. While I sympathize with the need to maximize profit, 23andMe’s disruptive strategy engenders far more risk than reward not only for existing users, but also for the company. The increasingly competitive direct-to-consumer DNA test market offers customers a myriad of alternatives for both ancestry research and health reports. How ironic that such boorish behavior and manipulative tactics emerge from a firm that waxes poetic about empowering users to make their own choices. 23andMe’s new scheme endeavors to weaken customers and reduce their choices.
Download the aggregate data file from 23andMe’s DNA Relatives for each of the profiles you manage. The downloaded files – for now – include data for the matches 23andMe has removed from your match list. 23andMe plans to have the downloaded file reflect the new match cap in the near future.
Call 23andMe Customer Service at 1-800-239-5230 to voice your concerns.
Revoke your consent for participation in 23andMe’s research initiatives until the company’s leadership takes corrective action.
