| Summary: | Since the early 2000’s, anybody can buy genetic tests, directly sold on the Internet. These tests provide information about one’s susceptibilities to some diseases and/or about one’s ancestry. This article deals with a new e-market, whose scientific basis (validity of the tests) and status (as medical devices or consumer goods) are currently controversial. On one hand, the article describes the tests and the advertisement and marketing strategies used by the companies (we made an inventory of about 40); on the other hand, it discusses the entanglement of these strategies with the global context of “healthism” and emphasis put on individuals’ empowerment regarding health decisions — “individualized biopolitics”. In addition, this article broaches the new kind of biosocial ties appearing in these tests’ wake: some users indeed gather online on the basis of genetic proximity put forward by their results.
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