California settles 23andMe data breach claims for $6 million

By Dietrich Knauth

Oct 19 (Reuters) - California ‌Attorney General ​Rob Bonta ​on Monday announced the state will receive a $6 million settlement payment in 23andMe's bankruptcy, resolving California's legal claims related to a ‌2023 data breach that exposed 6.9 million customers' genetic and other ⁠personal information.

California had unsuccessfully tried to block the $305 million sale of 23andMe assets to TTAM ‌Research Institute, a nonprofit controlled ‌by 23andMe co-founder Anne Wojcicki. The state had argued that the bankruptcy sale violated California's Genetic Information Privacy Act, and it had said consumers did ​not give express consent to the sale.

Once a trailblazer in DNA testing kits, 23andMe filed for bankruptcy in March 2025, seeking to sell its ⁠business at auction after a decline in demand and legal fallout from the data breach.

A US bankruptcy judge ruled ​against California's objections to the sale, and later ruled that the state could not sue to recover money from the bankrupt ​company's successor. California lost an appeal over ‌the sale in federal district court, and it agreed to drop further appeals as part of the $6 million settlement, according ⁠to court documents filed on Monday.

Customers of 23andMe retained the option to delete their data during the bankruptcy sale process, but California had argued that the court should have ⁠disallowed the transfer of any data unless 23andMe customers first gave express consent to the ​sale.

"I am proud to fight for the privacy rights of Californians and to deliver this settlement for consumers who put their trust in 23andMe," Bonta, a Democrat, said in ‌a statement on Monday. "I want to remind Californians that customers of 23andMe can delete their private, genetic data — no matter ‌who owns it.”

The data breach exposed the genetic information of more than 855,000 ⁠Californians, according to the attorney general's ‌office.

23andMe agreed to pay $46.75 ​million to victims of the 2023 data breach as part of its bankruptcy.

(Reporting by Dietrich Knauth; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and ‌Bill Berkrot)

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