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A Danish citizen has been convicted of uploading sexually explicit scenes from protected movies and TV series on the social media platform Reddit.

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

Danish police confirm he has been handed a seven-month suspended sentence for copyright infringement.

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

He has also been convicted of sharing more than 25 TB of protected data.

From March 2022 to mid-2023, the user using the alias "KlammereFyr" on Reddit uploaded sexually explicit scenes including over 100 actresses.

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

Per the Danish copyright protection group the Rights Alliance, his subreddit had more than 6,000 members and users were encouraged to request excerpts of particular actors.

In last year, advocates reported the case to the authorities on behalf of the impacted artists, directors and production companies, which led to the subreddit being closed down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, among the actresses whose nude content were shared in the group, told local broadcasters at the period she believed there was a difference between appearing naked in a film and being shown on Reddit.

The actress stated the posts amounted to "exploitation".

'An important signal'

The defendant was arrested in fall 2024 and pleaded guilty to the charges recently.

In a comment after the verdict, the head of the Rights Alliance the organization's leader remarked the outcome sent an "significant" signal "indicating violations of artists' rights have repercussions".

The ruling is viewed as unprecedented in the country for its use of the "moral rights" clause of the Danish Copyright Act, which specifies an creator's work cannot be utilized in a manner which violates their standing.

Copyright law specialist Dr Alina Trapova informed BBC News the case was "rare" for its focus on the damage to the integrity of an performer, rather than to them financially.

How the ruling could affect nations abroad is unclear.

But she added there may be "an increasing number of these actions" in the future with the growth of AI, where "the integrity of one's creative output might be compromised with greater ease".