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

Based on a police report reviewed by BBC News, the anonymous man shared 347 clips of explicit scenes in a Reddit group he moderated, which were then viewed 4.2 million times.

Danish police confirm he has been handed a seven-month deferred jail term for copyright infringement.

Experts explain the defendant was prosecuted under a seldom-invoked provision in Danish copyright law, with the judge finding that by removing the scenes out of their original context, the man had harmed the performers' "moral rights".

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

From spring 2022 to mid-2023, the user using the alias "KlammereFyr" on Reddit posted adult scenes including over 100 female performers.

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

Per the Denmark's copyright protection organization the Rights Alliance, his online community had more than 6,000 members and users were prompted to ask for clips of specific performers.

In last year, advocates reported the case to the police on behalf of the affected actors, filmmakers and producers, which resulted in the subreddit being closed down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, among the actresses whose nude scenes were shared in the community, explained to Danish broadcasters at the period she believed there was a distinction between being seen unclothed in a film and appearing on Reddit.

The actress said the posts constituted "exploitation".

'A significant signal'

The man was detained in September 2024 and pleaded guilty to the allegations recently.

In a comment after the ruling, the head of the Rights Alliance Maria Fredenslund remarked the decision sent an "significant" signal "indicating infringements of artists' entitlements have repercussions".

The ruling is viewed as unique in the country for its use of the "ethical protections" clause of the Danish Copyright Act, which specifies an artist's work cannot be used in a manner which violates their reputation.

Intellectual property specialist a legal scholar informed 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 influence nations abroad is uncertain.

But she added there may be "an increasing number of such cases" in the coming years with the growth of AI, where "the sanctity of an individual's work might be tempered with with greater ease".