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A Danish citizen has been found guilty of uploading nude segments from copyrighted films and television shows on the social media site Reddit.

Based on a police report reviewed by BBC News, the unnamed individual shared 347 video excerpts of nude content in a Reddit group he managed, which were then watched 4.2 million times.

The country's police state he has been handed a 7-month deferred jail term for copyright infringement.

Legal analysts explain the man was charged under a seldom-invoked provision in Denmark's copyright law, with the judge ruling that by removing the footage out of their intended setting, the accused had damaged the artists' "ethical entitlements".

He has additionally been convicted of distributing more than 25 terabytes of copyrighted digital content.

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

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

Per the Denmark's anti-piracy group The Rights Alliance (TRA), his online community had more than 6,000 members and participants were encouraged to request excerpts of specific performers.

In 2023, campaigners filed the case to the authorities on behalf of the affected actors, directors and producers, which resulted in the forum being shut down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, one of the actresses whose nude scenes were shared in the community, told Danish media at the time she believed there was a difference between appearing unclothed in a movie and appearing on Reddit.

The actress stated the posts amounted to "exploitation".

'An important signal'

The defendant was detained in September 2024 and admitted culpable to the charges last month.

In a statement following the verdict, TRA head the organization's leader remarked the decision sent an "significant" signal "that infringements of creators' entitlements have consequences".

The ruling is considered unique in Denmark for its application of the "moral rights" clause of the Danish Copyright Act, which specifies an creator's creation cannot be used in a manner which infringes upon their reputation.

Copyright law expert Dr Alina Trapova told BBC News the case was "unusual" for its focus on the damage to the dignity of an artist, rather than to them economically.

How the ruling could influence other countries is unclear.

But she added there may be "more and more of such cases" in the future with the advancement of AI, where "the integrity of an individual's work might be tempered with with greater ease".