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A Danish man has been found guilty of sharing sexually explicit scenes from protected movies and TV series on the social media site Reddit.

According to a law enforcement report obtained by BBC News, the unnamed man shared 347 clips of nude content in a subreddit he moderated, which were then viewed 4.2 million-plus times.

The country's authorities state he has been given a seven-month deferred jail term for copyright infringement.

Legal analysts explain the defendant was prosecuted under a rarely-used clause in Danish copyright law, with the court finding that by removing the footage out of their intended setting, the accused had damaged the artists' "ethical entitlements".

He has additionally been found guilty of distributing more than 25 TB of copyrighted digital content.

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

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

According to the Danish copyright protection group The Rights Alliance (TRA), his online community had more than 6,000 members and users were encouraged to ask for excerpts of particular performers.

In 2023, campaigners reported the incident to the authorities on behalf of the impacted actors, directors and production companies, which resulted in the forum being closed down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, among the performers whose explicit content were circulated in the group, told local media at the time she felt there was a difference between appearing naked in a movie and being shown on Reddit.

The performer stated the posts amounted to "exploitation".

'A significant signal'

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

In a statement following the ruling, TRA head the organization's leader said the decision sent an "significant" message "that violations of artists' rights has repercussions".

The ruling is viewed as unique in Denmark for its application of the "ethical protections" clause of the national copyright law, which specifies an artist's work cannot be used in a manner which infringes upon their standing.

Intellectual property specialist a legal scholar informed the media the legal matter was "unusual" for its emphasis on the harm to the dignity of an artist, rather than to them economically.

The extent to which the case could affect other countries is uncertain.

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