Attorney General Jeff Jackson Sues to Prevent 23andMe from Selling North Carolinians’ Genetic Data

RALEIGH — Attorney General Jeff Jackson filed a lawsuit in bankruptcy court against 23andMe to protect North Carolinians’ private genetic data from being sold without consent during the company’s bankruptcy proceedings.

“Millions of people across the country and in North Carolina trusted 23andMe with their private genetic information, and the company has no right to sell off people’s most personal data to someone else without their permission,” said Attorney General Jeff Jackson. “North Carolinians deserve the peace of mind that their personal info is kept out of the wrong hands, and I’m taking 23andMe to court to make sure that happens.”

23andMe filed for bankruptcy earlier this year and is now attempting to sell the genetic data they collected from over 15 million customers nationwide to the highest bidder. If this data is sold to another company without customers’ consent, North Carolinians who sent biological samples or other personal information to 23andMe are at risk of their data being exposed, compromised, or used for other unintended purposes.

NCDOJ was previously investigating 23andMe over its 2023 data breach that potentially compromised the genetic data of millions of people nationwide. As part of his investigation into 23andMe, Attorney General Jackson won a consent order appointing a consumer privacy ombudsman to help advocate for consumers’ privacy and security interests as 23andMe navigates its sale. Consumers who were impacted by the 2023 data breach have until July 14, 2025 to file a claim against 23andMe.

The Attorney General is also encouraging North Carolinians who used 23andMe’s services to delete their data from the platform as soon as possible.

Here’s how to delete your 23andMe data:

• Log into your 23andMe account.
• Follow instructions here if you want to destroy your test sample or revoke permission for your genetic data to be used for research.
• Under your account profile, click on “Settings”.
• Scroll down to “23andMe data” and click on “View”.
• Select “Delete data”.
• Click “Permanently delete data”.
• Follow instructions to confirm your request to delete your data.

Once you confirm your request, 23andMe will immediately and automatically begin the deletion process and you will lose access to your account.

Attorney General Jackson is joined in filing this lawsuit by the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

You can read the complaint here.

You can read the multistate objection here.

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