Dallas, Texas — Texas is among 42 states sharing in a $150 million multistate bankruptcy settlement with the genetic-testing company 23andMe, resolving claims tied to a 2023 data breach that exposed the genetic information of 6.9 million customers worldwide.
Attorney General Ken Paxton said Texas will receive $1,266,860 from the settlement. Because 23andMe filed for bankruptcy protection in 2025, only $18 million of the settlement is immediately available from the estate, and Texas's share comes from that initial payout.
The agreement follows a multistate investigation that found 23andMe engaged in unreasonable data-security practices and failed to put adequate safeguards in place against hacking. The breach became public in October 2023, when the company disclosed that attackers had obtained a wide range of customer data, including, in some cases, genetic ancestry information. Subsets of that data were later posted for sale on the dark web.
Beyond the financial recovery, the settlement requires enhanced data-security standards, comprehensive risk assessments and the creation of an independent advisory board. Compliance with state privacy laws will be enforced, and consumers' data-deletion rights will be preserved as the company's research institute continues operating.
