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A Denmark-based man has been convicted of sharing nude scenes from protected movies and television shows on the social media site Reddit.

According to a law enforcement document reviewed by BBC News, the unnamed man shared 347 clips of explicit scenes in a Reddit group he moderated, which were then watched 4.2 million-plus times.

The country's police state he has been handed a 7-month deferred sentence for violating copyright laws.

Experts explain the man was charged under a seldom-invoked clause in Danish copyright law, with the judge finding that by removing the scenes out of their original context, the accused had damaged the artists' "moral rights".

He has also been found guilty of sharing more than 25 terabytes of protected digital content.

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

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

Per the Danish anti-piracy organization the Rights Alliance, his online community had more than 6,000 subscribers and participants were encouraged to request clips of specific performers.

In last year, advocates filed the case to the authorities on behalf of the impacted artists, filmmakers and producers, which led to the subreddit being closed down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, one of the performers whose nude content were circulated in the community, told local broadcasters at the period she felt there was a difference between appearing naked in a movie and being shown on Reddit.

The actress stated the posts constituted "abuse".

'An important message'

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

In a statement following the ruling, the head of the Rights Alliance the organization's leader said the decision sent an "important" message "that violations of creators' rights have consequences".

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

Intellectual property specialist Dr Alina Trapova informed the media the legal matter was "unusual" for its emphasis on the harm to the integrity of an artist, rather than to them financially.

How the case could influence other countries is uncertain.

But she added there may be "more and more of such cases" in the coming years with the growth of artificial intelligence, where "the sanctity of an individual's work might be tempered with much more easily".