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Opensnp, a genetic sharing site citing concerns about data privacy and “increasing authoritarian government”

TechBrunchBy TechBrunchApril 1, 20254 Mins Read
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OpenSNP, a large open source repository for user-uploaded genetic data, shuts down and removes all data at the end of April, confirmed by co-founder Bastian Greshake Tzovaras.

In a blog post, OpenSNP's Greshake Tzovaras has indicted the decision to shutter the site due to data privacy concerns following the fiscal collapse of 23andme and the rise in authoritarian governments around the world.

Founded in 2011 by Greshake Tzovaras, along with Philipp Bayer and Helge Rausch, OpenSNP became an open and public repository for commercial genetic testing kits containing 23AndMe, uploading test results and finding others with similar genetic mutations. The site had nearly 13,000 users at the time of the closure announcement, making it one of the largest public repositories of genetic data. Since its founding, OpenSNP has promoted its contributions to academic and scientific research and has identified more than 7,500 genomes.

News of OpenSNP shutdown comes as a result of 23andMe filing for bankruptcy protection, reinforcing concerns that a huge bank of customer sensitive data will be sold to the highest bidders who may not comply with 23andMe's privacy commitments. California and New York Attorney Generals, among other things, have warned 23 clients to delete data prior to court-approved sales later this year.

Gresheik Tzabaras also said that “the increase in far-right and other authoritarian governments” was the factor in closure of opensnp, citing the removal of public data from the US government's website shortly after President Trump returned to power.

“The risk/profit calculations that provide free and open access to individual genetic data in 2025 are very different compared to 14 years ago,” writes Greshake Tzovaras. “We feel that Sunsetting OpenSNP is the most responsible act of stewardship of these data today, along with deleting the data stored within it.”

“It was always a balanced act.”

When he reached TechCrunch, Greshake Tzovaras was dulled in his decision to close OpenSNP.

“For me, 'Why now' will ultimately be important for the US fascist coup,” Grescheik Tsovaras told TechCrunch, a native of Germany.

“If you see people disappearing from the streets under the most suspicious pretext, you can't actually call anything,” he said. He mentioned recent reports of people living in the United States, including US citizens arrested in immigrant attacks.

Greshake Tzovaras said “the wholesale demolition of science institutions and the science itself” (the beginning of the second Trump administration) was a factor in the closure of OpenSNP.

“I don't think it's stretch to worry about genetic data being abused quickly for making false claims on a variety of topics and effectively bringing back the dark eugenics era,” he said.

Greshake Tzovaras said OpenSNP is “always a balanced act” between its potential use and risk, and said the site's existence is “a continuous idea of ​​whether benefits can outweigh risk.”

When law enforcement used genetic data from genealogy site Gedmatch to identify infamous serial killers in 2018, Greshake Tzovaras said OpenSNP appears to be at risk of law enforcement use or law enforcement use compared to a larger ancestor-specific database. (Greshake Tzovaras confirmed to TechCrunch that despite the open and public nature of the data it stores, OpenSNP has never received a law enforcement request for genetic or user data.)

Gresheik Tsowalus said that “the misuse of science was very different, qualitatively and quantitatively, from what we see today,” compared to the first Trump administration.

“In addition to the bigger conversations about the impact of genetic data in the 23andme bankruptcy context, we decided it was time to pull the plug,” Greshake Tzovaras told TechCrunch.

Gresheik Tsowalus also told TechCrunch in positive reflection that running OpenSNP for 14 years might be his “bigest achievement.” He said OpenSNP ran for around $100 a month in the face of a commercial startup that worked to monetize people's data but ultimately failed. Greshake Tzovaras said in that sense that OpenSnp “feels like evidence of the power of open source/culture.”

The site also contributes to research and publications that are “spanning a wide range of fields” from Infosec/Privacy to biomedical research. Many undergraduate students also benefited from having access to actual data hosted by OpenSNP.

“In that sense, I think our hope is that our hope that “democratizing” access to genomics has at least been successful,” Greshake Tzovaras said.

Updated to modify the OpenSNP name name to the whole.



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