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A Danish citizen has been convicted of sharing nude segments from copyrighted films and television shows on the social media platform Reddit.

According to a law enforcement document reviewed by BBC News, the anonymous man shared 347 clips of nude content in a subreddit he moderated, which were then watched 4.2 million-plus times.

The country's authorities state he has been given a 7-month suspended sentence for copyright infringement.

Experts explain the man was prosecuted under a seldom-invoked provision in Denmark's copyright law, with the court ruling that by removing the footage out of their original context, the man had harmed the artists' "moral rights".

He has additionally been convicted of distributing more than 25 terabytes of copyrighted digital content.

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

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

According to the Denmark's copyright protection group The Rights Alliance (TRA), his subreddit had more than 6,000 subscribers and users were prompted to ask for excerpts of particular actors.

In 2023, campaigners reported the case to the police on behalf of the impacted actors, filmmakers and producers, which led to the forum being shut down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, one of the performers whose explicit content were circulated in the community, told Danish media at the time she felt there was a difference between being seen unclothed in a movie and being shown on Reddit.

The actress said the posts amounted to "abuse".

'An important signal'

The man was detained in September 2024 and admitted culpable to the allegations recently.

In a comment following the verdict, the head of the Rights Alliance the organization's leader said the outcome sent an "significant" signal "indicating violations of creators' entitlements have repercussions".

The ruling is viewed as unprecedented in Denmark for its use of the "moral rights" clause of the national copyright law, which specifies an creator's work cannot be used in a manner which infringes upon their standing.

Copyright law expert a legal scholar told the media the legal matter was "unusual" for its focus on the harm to the dignity of an artist, rather than to them economically.

How the case could affect other countries is unclear.

But she said there may be "an increasing number of such cases" in the future with the advancement of artificial intelligence, where "the sanctity of an individual's creative output might be compromised much more easily".