July 14, 2026:
South Dakota will receive nearly $150,000 ($149,399) from the bankruptcy trustee for 23andMe, resolving allegations stemming from an October 2023 data breach that compromised the genetic data of 6.9 million customers worldwide.
In South Dakota, 11,027 people were affected.
The Attorney General’s Office says this data breach exposed a wide range of information about 23andMe customers, including– in some cases– genetic ancestry information. Subsets of this data were later published for sale on the dark web. South Dakota’s share will fund consumer protection efforts through the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division.
The A-G’s Office says 23andMe learned about the breach months after impacted personal information was publicly available. The company first denied the breach had occurred, then, once it confirmed the breach, blamed consumers for how their accounts were set up or how passwords were used. 23andMe initially accepted no responsibility for the credential stuffing breach.
These bankruptcy funds are in addition to the $46.75 million class-action settlement 23andMe agreed to in a bankruptcy case. That settlement provides payment to affected U.S. consumers who submitted claims by Feb. 17, 2026.
During the 2026 legislative session, Attorney General Marty Jackley proposed a bill (Senate Bill 49) to safeguard the integrity, privacy and security of genetic data and provide a civil penalty for any violations. The measure was approved by the legislators, signed by Governor Larry Rhoden and became law July 1, 2026.
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January 19, 2026:
Security of genetic data is the focus of one of the bills South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley is asking lawmakers to pass during this year’s (2026) legislative session.
South Dakota joined 26 other states in filing a lawsuit to block 23andMe from selling personal genetic data it’s acquired and Jackley wants to make that enforceable in state codified law.
Jackley says he chose to join the lawsuit after multiple South Dakotans called his office worried about their personal data being sold by the struggling 23andMe company.
Senate Bill 49 is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee Jan. 20, 2026.
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