Danish national man given deferred prison term for sharing explicit film clips on the social platform Reddit

A Danish man has been convicted of sharing sexually explicit segments from copyrighted movies and TV series on the social media platform Reddit.

According to a law enforcement document obtained by BBC News, the anonymous man shared 347 clips of explicit content in a Reddit group he managed, which were then viewed 4.2 million times.

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

Legal analysts say the defendant was charged under a rarely-used provision in Denmark's copyright law, with the court ruling that by removing the footage out of their intended setting, the accused had damaged the performers' "moral rights".

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

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

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

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

In 2023, campaigners filed the case to the police on behalf of the affected artists, directors and producers, which led to the forum being closed down.

One actress, among the actresses whose nude scenes were shared in the community, told local media at the time she believed there was a distinction between appearing naked in a movie and being shown on Reddit.

The actress said the uploads amounted to "exploitation".

'A significant message'

The defendant was arrested in fall 2024 and pleaded guilty to the charges last month.

In a statement after the ruling, the head of the Rights Alliance Maria Fredenslund said the outcome sent an "important" message "that infringements of artists' rights has consequences".

The ruling is viewed as unique in Denmark for its application of the "ethical protections" clause of the national copyright law, which specifies an creator's creation cannot be utilized in a way which violates their standing.

Copyright law expert Dr Alina Trapova told BBC News the legal matter was "rare" for its emphasis on the damage to the integrity of an artist, rather than to them economically.

The extent to which the case could influence nations abroad is unclear.

But she said there may be "an increasing number of these actions" in the coming years with the growth of artificial intelligence, where "the integrity of an individual's work might be tempered with much more easily".