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Klarna — What the payments giant knows about you
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01Pink, friendly, and a data dinosaur

Klarna looks like a lifestyle app. Pink, rounded, relaxed. "Buy now, pay later" sounds harmless. While Google is openly an advertising company and everyone knows what they're signing up for, Klarna presents itself as a plain payment service, and in doing so collects data that even Google doesn't have.

Such as what? Through its open bankingOpen BankingA system in which third-party providers like Klarna can access your bank account directly with your permission — including your balance and transaction history. offering, Klarna can gain direct access to your bank account — balance, all transactions from the past 30 to 90 days, rent payments, medical costs, supermarket spending. The privacy policy states this plainly.

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Consumer advice centres warn explicitly: you should generally not grant open banking access to your account. Once activated, Klarna reads all account movements from the past 30–90 days.

02From payment service to advertising platform

In 2020, Klarna earned $13 million from advertising. In 2024, that figure was $180 million — growth of over 1,200 percent in four years. Since November 2023, Klarna has operated its own Ads ManagerAds ManagerAn advertising management tool that allows merchants to place targeted ads — based on the purchase data and behaviour of Klarna's users.: merchants can use it to advertise with precision based on the purchase history, browsing behaviour and search terms of 111 million users.

Klarna earns three ways: from merchant commissions, from interest on instalment payments, and from your data.

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CCPA disclosure

Klarna's US privacy policy (which California law requires to be fully transparent) states: over the past 12 months Klarna has sold email addresses, device IDs and behavioural profilesBehavioural profileA digital dossier built from your online behaviour: what you buy, what you search for, when you're active. Used for targeted advertising. to marketing and media companies. The European privacy policy says little about this.

03The AI assistant is reading along

Since February 2024, an OpenAI-based AI assistant has been handling two thirds of all Klarna customer enquiries. In the first month alone: 2.3 million conversations. By the end of 2025 the assistant had replaced the work of 853 full-time positions and saved $60 million.

Klarna does not document anywhere precisely which customer data is transferred to OpenAI servers. Before 2025, all conversations were processed on US servers, which was legally problematic under the Schrems IISchrems IIA ruling by the European Court of Justice (2020) that significantly restricted data transfers to the US. Named after Austrian data protection activist Max Schrems. ruling.

Update mid-2025: Klarna began rehiring human customer service agents from mid-2025 onwards. The reason: persistent quality problems — the AI assistant failed on complex enquiries and generated more escalations than resolutions. The reversal contradicts Klarna's own communications from 2024, which presented the AI as a full replacement for human staff. [9]

04What you can do right now

You don't have to delete Klarna immediately. But there are a few things you can do straight away:

Revoke open banking access: App → Personal Finances → Deactivate. Takes effect immediately, costs nothing.

Object to advertising: You have an absolute right to object — no reason required. Email privacy@klarna.com.

Request a data copy: Also by email. Klarna must respond within 30 days — in one documented case it took 3 years and 7 months.

Alternative: Apple Pay cannot be tracked, sells no data and requires no bank account access.

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And yes, I had Klarna too. Past tense.