While it's not 100 percent clear if the "delete your DNA" calls were warranted, privacy experts are alarmed, and Americans who had taken the genetic test took the advice to heart.
According to data from online traffic analysis company Similarweb, on March 24, the day of the bankruptcy announcement, 23andMe received 1.5 million visits to its website, a 526% increase from one day prior. According to Similarweb, 376,000 visits were made to help pages specifically related to deleting data, and 30,000 were made to the customer care page for account closure. The next day, that figure rose to 1.7 million visits, and rraffic to the delete data help page about 480,000.