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A Danish citizen has been found guilty of sharing sexually explicit segments from copyrighted movies and television shows on the social media site Reddit.

According to a law enforcement document obtained by BBC News, the unnamed individual shared 347 clips of nude content in a Reddit group he managed, which were then viewed 4.2 million times.

Danish authorities confirm he has been handed a seven-month suspended jail term for violating copyright laws.

Legal analysts say the defendant was charged under a rarely-used provision in Danish copyright law, with the court finding that by taking the scenes out of their intended setting, the man had harmed the performers' "ethical entitlements".

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

From March 2022 to mid-2023, the man using the alias "KlammereFyr" on Reddit posted sexually explicit scenes featuring over 100 female performers.

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

Per the Denmark's copyright protection group the Rights Alliance, his subreddit had more than 6,000 subscribers and participants were prompted to request clips of specific actors.

In last year, advocates reported the incident to the police on behalf of the impacted artists, directors and production companies, which resulted in the forum being shut down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, one of the performers whose explicit scenes were shared in the group, explained to local media at the period she felt there was a difference between being seen unclothed in a film and being shown on Reddit.

The performer stated the posts amounted to "exploitation".

'A significant message'

The man was detained in fall 2024 and admitted guilty to the charges recently.

In a statement after the ruling, the head of the Rights Alliance the organization's leader remarked the decision sent an "important" signal "that violations of creators' rights have consequences".

The verdict is considered unique in Denmark for its application of the "ethical protections" section of the national copyright law, which specifies an artist's creation cannot be utilized in a way which violates their reputation.

Intellectual property specialist Dr Alina Trapova informed BBC News the legal matter was "rare" for its focus on the damage to the dignity of an performer, rather than to them financially.

How the case could affect nations abroad is uncertain.

But she said there may be "an increasing number of such cases" in the coming years with the growth of artificial intelligence, where "the integrity of one's work might be compromised much more easily".