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A Danish man has been found guilty of sharing sexually explicit segments from protected films and TV series on the social media platform Reddit.

According to a law enforcement report obtained by BBC News, the unnamed man shared 347 video excerpts of explicit content in a subreddit he managed, which were then viewed 4.2 million times.

The country's authorities confirm he has been handed a seven-month deferred sentence for copyright infringement.

Experts explain the man was charged under a seldom-invoked 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 found guilty of sharing more than 25 terabytes of protected digital content.

From March 2022 to May 2023, the user using the alias "the pseudonym KlammereFyr" on Reddit posted adult clips featuring over 100 female performers.

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

Per the Denmark's copyright protection organization The Rights Alliance (TRA), his subreddit had more than 6,000 subscribers and participants were prompted to ask for clips of particular performers.

In last year, advocates reported the incident to the police on behalf of the affected artists, directors and producers, which led to the forum being shut down.

One actress, among the performers whose nude scenes were shared in the community, explained to Danish broadcasters at the time she felt there was a distinction between being seen naked in a movie and being shown on Reddit.

The actress stated the uploads constituted "exploitation".

'A significant message'

The man was detained in fall 2024 and pleaded culpable to the allegations last month.

In a statement after the verdict, the head of the Rights Alliance the organization's leader remarked the outcome sent an "important" signal "that infringements of artists' entitlements have repercussions".

The verdict is viewed as unprecedented in Denmark for its application of the "ethical protections" clause of the Danish Copyright Act, which specifies an artist's creation cannot be used in a way which violates their reputation.

Copyright law specialist Dr Alina Trapova informed the media the case was "unusual" for its focus on the harm to the dignity of an performer, rather than to them economically.

The extent to which the case could affect nations abroad is uncertain.

But she said there may be "more and more of these actions" in the future with the advancement of artificial intelligence, where "the sanctity of one's work might be compromised with greater ease".