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A Denmark-based citizen has been found guilty of sharing sexually explicit scenes from protected films and television shows on the online site Reddit.

Based on a law enforcement report reviewed by media outlets, the anonymous man posted 347 clips of nude content in a subreddit he managed, which were then watched 4.2 million times.

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

Legal analysts say the man was prosecuted under a rarely-used provision in Danish copyright law, with the court finding that by taking the footage out of their original context, the accused had harmed the performers' "ethical entitlements".

He has also been convicted of sharing more than 25 terabytes of protected data.

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

He distributed them in the forum 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 users were prompted to request clips of specific actors.

In last year, campaigners filed the incident to the authorities on behalf of the impacted actors, directors and production companies, which resulted in the subreddit being closed down.

One actress, one of the actresses whose explicit scenes were circulated in the group, told Danish media at the time she felt there was a difference between being seen unclothed in a film and appearing on Reddit.

The performer said the uploads amounted to "exploitation".

'A significant message'

The man was arrested in fall 2024 and admitted culpable to the charges last month.

In a comment after the ruling, the head of the Rights Alliance Maria Fredenslund said the decision sent an "significant" signal "that infringements of artists' entitlements have consequences".

The verdict is viewed as unprecedented in the country for its use of the "ethical protections" section of the national copyright law, which specifies an artist's work cannot be used in a manner which violates their reputation.

Intellectual property expert a legal scholar told the media the legal matter was "rare" for its focus on the damage to the dignity of an artist, rather than to them economically.

How the case could influence nations abroad is unclear.

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