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A Danish citizen has been convicted of uploading sexually explicit scenes from protected movies and television shows on the online platform Reddit.

Based on a law enforcement document reviewed by BBC News, the unnamed man shared 347 video excerpts of nude content in a Reddit group he managed, which were then watched 4.2 million-plus times.

The country's authorities confirm he has been given a seven-month deferred jail term for violating copyright laws.

Experts explain the defendant was prosecuted under a rarely-used clause in Denmark's copyright law, with the judge ruling that by taking the footage out of their intended setting, the man had damaged the artists' "moral rights".

He has also been found guilty of sharing more than 25 terabytes of protected data.

From spring 2022 to May 2023, the man using the alias "the pseudonym KlammereFyr" on Reddit uploaded adult scenes including over 100 female performers.

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

According to the Denmark's anti-piracy group The Rights Alliance (TRA), his subreddit had more than 6,000 members and participants were encouraged to ask for excerpts of particular actors.

In last year, campaigners filed the incident to the police on behalf of the affected artists, directors and production companies, which led to the forum being shut down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, among the performers whose explicit content were shared in the community, explained to local media at the time she believed there was a difference between appearing unclothed in a movie and appearing on Reddit.

The actress said the uploads amounted to "exploitation".

'A significant message'

The defendant was arrested in fall 2024 and pleaded culpable to the allegations last month.

In a statement following the ruling, TRA head Maria Fredenslund said the outcome sent an "significant" message "that infringements of creators' rights have repercussions".

The ruling is considered unprecedented in Denmark for its use of the "moral rights" clause of the national copyright law, which specifies an creator's creation cannot be used in a way which violates their reputation.

Intellectual property specialist a legal scholar informed the media the legal matter was "rare" for its emphasis on the damage to the integrity of an performer, rather than to them financially.

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

But she said there may be "more and more of such cases" in the future with the growth of AI, where "the integrity of an individual's work might be tempered with much more easily".