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A Danish citizen has been found guilty of uploading sexually explicit segments from protected movies and TV series on the online platform Reddit.

Based on a law enforcement document reviewed by media outlets, the anonymous individual posted 347 clips of explicit content in a Reddit group he moderated, which were then viewed 4.2 million times.

The country's authorities state he has been handed a seven-month suspended jail term for copyright infringement.

Legal analysts say the man was charged under a rarely-used provision in Denmark's intellectual property legislation, with the judge ruling that by removing the scenes out of their original context, the man had harmed the artists' "moral rights".

He has also been convicted of sharing more than 25 TB of copyrighted digital content.

From March 2022 to mid-2023, the man known as "the pseudonym KlammereFyr" on Reddit uploaded adult clips featuring over 100 female performers.

He shared them in the forum he was a administrator of.

According to the Danish copyright protection group the Rights Alliance, his subreddit had more than 6,000 members and participants were prompted to request clips of specific performers.

In last year, campaigners filed the incident to the authorities on behalf of the affected actors, directors and producers, which led to the forum being closed down.

One actress, among the actresses whose nude content were shared in the group, told local media at the period she believed there was a difference between being seen unclothed in a movie and appearing on Reddit.

The actress stated the uploads constituted "exploitation".

'An important signal'

The defendant was detained in September 2024 and admitted guilty to the allegations last month.

In a comment after the verdict, the head of the Rights Alliance the organization's leader said the decision sent an "important" signal "that violations of artists' entitlements has repercussions".

The ruling is viewed as unprecedented in the country for its application of the "ethical protections" clause of the national copyright law, which states an artist's work cannot be used in a manner which violates their reputation.

Copyright law specialist a legal scholar told the media the case was "rare" for its emphasis on the harm to the integrity of an artist, rather than to them economically.

The extent to which the ruling could influence nations abroad is unclear.

But she added there may be "an increasing number of such cases" in the future with the advancement of AI, where "the integrity of one's creative output might be compromised much more easily".