Danish national individual receives deferred prison term for posting explicit film clips on the social platform Reddit

A Denmark-based citizen has been convicted of uploading sexually explicit segments from protected films and TV series on the online platform Reddit.

Based on a police document obtained by BBC News, the anonymous individual posted 347 video excerpts of nude content in a Reddit group he moderated, which were then watched 4.2 million-plus times.

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

Legal analysts say the man was prosecuted under a rarely-used provision in Danish intellectual property legislation, with the court ruling that by removing the footage out of their intended setting, the accused had harmed the artists' "moral rights".

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

From spring 2022 to mid-2023, the user known as "the pseudonym KlammereFyr" on Reddit posted adult clips featuring over 100 female performers.

He distributed them in the subreddit he was a moderator of.

According to the Danish copyright protection organization the Rights Alliance, his subreddit had more than 6,000 subscribers and participants were prompted to request clips of particular actors.

In 2023, advocates filed the case to the authorities on behalf of the affected artists, filmmakers and production companies, which resulted in the subreddit being shut down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, among the actresses whose nude content were circulated in the community, explained to local broadcasters at the period she felt there was a difference between being seen unclothed in a film and being shown on Reddit.

The actress said the uploads amounted to "abuse".

'An important signal'

The defendant was detained in fall 2024 and pleaded culpable to the allegations last month.

In a comment following the verdict, the head of the Rights Alliance the organization's leader said the outcome sent an "important" message "indicating violations of creators' entitlements have repercussions".

The verdict is considered unprecedented in Denmark for its application of the "moral rights" clause of the national copyright law, which specifies an creator's work cannot be utilized in a manner which violates their standing.

Copyright law expert a legal scholar told the media the legal matter was "unusual" for its focus on the harm to the integrity of an performer, rather than to them economically.

The extent to which the case could affect other countries is unclear.

But she said there may be "an increasing number of such cases" in the future with the growth of AI, where "the sanctity of an individual's work might be tempered with with greater ease".