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A Denmark-based citizen has been convicted of uploading sexually explicit scenes from protected movies and television shows on the social media platform Reddit.

According to a police document reviewed by media outlets, the anonymous man shared 347 clips of nude content in a subreddit he moderated, which were then watched 4.2 million times.

Danish police state he has been given a 7-month suspended jail term for copyright infringement.

Experts explain the defendant was prosecuted under a rarely-used provision in Denmark's intellectual property legislation, with the court finding that by removing the footage out of their original context, the accused had damaged the artists' "ethical entitlements".

He has additionally been found guilty of distributing more than 25 terabytes of copyrighted data.

From spring 2022 to May 2023, the user known as "the pseudonym KlammereFyr" on Reddit uploaded sexually explicit clips including over 100 actresses.

He shared them in the subreddit he was a moderator of.

Per the Danish anti-piracy organization The Rights Alliance (TRA), his online community had more than 6,000 members and users were encouraged to request clips of specific actors.

In 2023, advocates reported the case to the police on behalf of the affected artists, directors and production companies, which resulted in the subreddit being shut down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, among the performers whose explicit content were circulated in the group, told Danish broadcasters at the time she felt there was a distinction between being seen naked in a movie and being shown on Reddit.

The actress stated the uploads constituted "abuse".

'A significant message'

The man was detained in fall 2024 and pleaded guilty to the allegations last month.

In a comment after the ruling, the head of the Rights Alliance the organization's leader remarked the outcome sent an "significant" signal "indicating violations of creators' entitlements have consequences".

The verdict is viewed as unprecedented in the country for its application of the "moral rights" clause of the Danish Copyright Act, which specifies an creator's creation cannot be used in a way which violates their standing.

Copyright law specialist a legal scholar told BBC News the legal matter was "unusual" for its focus on the harm to the integrity of an performer, rather than to them economically.

How the ruling could affect nations abroad is uncertain.

But she added there may be "more and more of such cases" in the coming years with the advancement of AI, where "the sanctity of an individual's creative output might be compromised much more easily".