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A Denmark-based citizen has been found guilty of uploading nude segments from protected movies and TV series on the social media platform Reddit.

Based on a law enforcement document obtained by BBC News, the anonymous individual posted 347 clips of nude content in a subreddit he moderated, which were then watched 4.2 million times.

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

Legal analysts say the defendant was prosecuted under a rarely-used clause in Danish copyright law, with the court 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 distributing more than 25 terabytes of copyrighted digital content.

From spring 2022 to mid-2023, the man known as "the pseudonym KlammereFyr" on Reddit posted sexually explicit scenes including over 100 female performers.

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

According to the Denmark's anti-piracy group the Rights Alliance, his online community had more than 6,000 members and participants were encouraged to request excerpts of specific actors.

In 2023, campaigners filed the incident to the authorities on behalf of the affected artists, filmmakers and production companies, which led to the subreddit being shut down.

One actress, one of the performers whose nude scenes were circulated in the group, explained to local media at the period she felt there was a distinction between being seen naked in a film and appearing on Reddit.

The actress said the posts amounted to "exploitation".

'A significant message'

The man was arrested in September 2024 and admitted guilty to the allegations recently.

In a comment after the ruling, the head of the Rights Alliance Maria Fredenslund said the decision sent an "significant" message "indicating infringements of creators' rights has consequences".

The verdict is viewed as unique in the country for its application of the "ethical protections" clause of the Danish Copyright Act, which specifies an artist's work cannot be utilized in a way which violates their standing.

Intellectual property expert Dr Alina Trapova informed BBC News the case was "unusual" for its emphasis on the harm to the dignity of an performer, rather than to them financially.

The extent to which the ruling could affect nations abroad is unclear.

But she said there may be "an increasing number of these actions" in the coming years with the advancement of AI, where "the integrity of an individual's work might be compromised with greater ease".