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A Danish man has been found guilty of sharing nude scenes from copyrighted films and TV series on the social media site Reddit.

Based on a police document reviewed by media outlets, the unnamed man posted 347 video excerpts of explicit content in a Reddit group he moderated, which were then watched 4.2 million times.

Danish police state he has been given a seven-month deferred sentence for violating copyright laws.

Experts explain the man was charged under a seldom-invoked provision in Danish copyright law, with the judge ruling that by removing the scenes out of their intended setting, the man had damaged the performers' "ethical entitlements".

He has also been convicted of distributing more than 25 TB of protected digital content.

From March 2022 to May 2023, the man using the alias "the pseudonym KlammereFyr" on Reddit posted sexually explicit scenes featuring over 100 female performers.

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

Per the Danish anti-piracy group The Rights Alliance (TRA), his online community had more than 6,000 subscribers and participants were encouraged to ask for clips of particular actors.

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

Andrea Vagn Jensen, among the actresses whose explicit scenes were circulated in the community, told local broadcasters at the time she believed there was a difference between being seen naked in a movie and appearing on Reddit.

The actress said the uploads constituted "exploitation".

'A significant message'

The man was arrested in September 2024 and admitted guilty to the charges last month.

In a statement after the verdict, the head of the Rights Alliance the organization's leader said the decision sent an "significant" message "that infringements of artists' rights has repercussions".

The verdict is considered unique in Denmark for its use of the "ethical protections" section of the Danish Copyright Act, which specifies an artist's work cannot be utilized in a manner which violates their standing.

Copyright law expert a legal scholar informed BBC News the legal matter was "rare" for its focus on the harm to the integrity of an artist, rather than to them financially.

How the case could influence nations abroad is uncertain.

But she added there may be "an increasing number of these actions" in the future with the growth of AI, where "the sanctity of one's creative output might be tempered with much more easily".