Klarna uses a legal justification called 'legitimate interest' to analyze your data and send you personalized marketing without asking for your explicit consent each time, though you can object to this processing.
This analysis describes what Klarna's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
Using legitimate interest rather than consent as a legal basis means Klarna does not need to ask your permission for certain profiling and marketing activities, though you retain the right to object, which may not be prominently communicated in the user experience.
Interpretive note: Whether Klarna's legitimate interest assessments for specific profiling activities have been documented and would withstand regulatory scrutiny cannot be assessed from the policy text alone; the adequacy of the balancing test is not disclosed.
Previous generic provision renamed and expanded to explicitly mention profiling and marketing with added emphasis on user right to object.
View full change record →Klarna may profile your shopping and payment behavior and use that data for targeted marketing based on its own assessment that this is in its legitimate interest; you have the right to object to this processing, and doing so should cause Klarna to stop using your data for those purposes unless it can demonstrate compelling grounds to override your objection.
How other platforms handle this
If you are in the European Economic Area (EEA), we only process your personal data when we have a valid legal basis to do so, including when: (a) you have consented to the processing; (b) the processing is necessary to perform a contract with you; (c) we have a legitimate interest in processing your...
We may disclose your information if we believe that disclosure is in accordance with, or required by, any applicable law or legal process, including lawful requests by public authorities to meet national security or law enforcement requirements. We may also disclose your information if we believe it...
At Ledger, earning and maintaining our users' trust is a top priority. That's why we are deeply committed not only to protecting your privacy and securing your personal data, but also to being fully transparent about how we handle it.
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Klarna has changed this document before.
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"We process your personal data based on our legitimate interests, for example to send you marketing communications, to personalize your experience, to carry out analytics and research, and to improve our products and services. You have the right to object to this processing at any time.— Excerpt from Klarna's Klarna Privacy Policy
REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: Reliance on legitimate interest as a legal basis for profiling and marketing engages GDPR Article 6(1)(f) and requires a three-part test: the legitimate interest must be identified, the processing must be necessary for that interest, and the interest must not be overridden by the data subject's rights and interests. The European Data Protection Board has issued guidance indicating that marketing profiling on legitimate interest grounds is subject to heightened scrutiny. Relevant enforcement authorities include national DPAs and the Irish DPC as Klarna's likely EU lead supervisory authority. GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: Medium. The use of legitimate interest for behavioral profiling and marketing analytics is not inherently impermissible under GDPR but has attracted significant regulatory attention. The adequacy of the balancing test documentation and the prominence of the right-to-object disclosure in the user interface are key compliance variables. JURISDICTION FLAGS: EU and UK users have a statutory right to object to processing based on legitimate interest under GDPR Article 21, and upon valid objection the controller must cease processing unless compelling legitimate grounds are demonstrated. In California, certain profiling activities may qualify as the sale or sharing of personal information under the CPRA, triggering opt-out rights regardless of the legal basis asserted. CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: Marketing technology vendors and analytics partners receiving data under Klarna's legitimate interest processing should be assessed for whether their own processing activities are compatible with the original legitimate interest basis. Data processing agreements should clearly delineate the permissible purposes for which shared data may be used. COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Compliance teams should ensure that documented legitimate interest assessments are maintained and up to date for each identified processing purpose. The right to object must be communicated clearly and at the first communication with the user, per GDPR Article 21(4). User interface audits should confirm that the objection mechanism is as easy to exercise as the opt-in.
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Using legitimate interest rather than consent as a legal basis means Klarna does not need to ask your permission for certain profiling and marketing activities, though you retain the right to object, which may not be prominently communicated in the user experience.
Klarna may profile your shopping and payment behavior and use that data for targeted marketing based on its own assessment that this is in its legitimate interest; you have the right to object to this processing, and doing so should cause Klarna to stop using your data for those purposes unless it can demonstrate compelling grounds to override your objection.
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