Danish individual given suspended sentence for sharing explicit film clips on Reddit

A Denmark-based man has been found guilty of uploading sexually explicit segments from copyrighted movies and television shows on the online site Reddit.

Based on a law enforcement report obtained by BBC News, the unnamed man posted 347 video excerpts of nude scenes in a Reddit group he managed, which were then viewed 4.2 million times.

The country's authorities state he has been given a seven-month suspended jail term for copyright infringement.

Legal analysts say the defendant was charged under a rarely-used provision in Denmark's copyright law, with the judge ruling that by removing the scenes out of their original context, the man had harmed the performers' "ethical entitlements".

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

From March 2022 to mid-2023, the man known as "KlammereFyr" on Reddit posted sexually explicit scenes featuring over 100 actresses.

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

Per the Danish anti-piracy organization the Rights Alliance, his online community had more than 6,000 members and users were encouraged to request excerpts of specific actors.

In last year, campaigners reported the incident to the police on behalf of the impacted artists, directors and production companies, which led to the forum being shut down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, among the performers whose explicit content were shared in the group, explained to local media at the period she felt there was a distinction between appearing naked in a movie and appearing on Reddit.

The performer said the uploads constituted "abuse".

'A significant signal'

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

In a statement after the ruling, TRA head the organization's leader said the outcome sent an "significant" message "that violations of artists' entitlements have repercussions".

The ruling is viewed as unprecedented in Denmark for its use of the "moral rights" clause of the national copyright law, which specifies an artist's creation cannot be used in a manner which infringes upon their reputation.

Copyright law specialist a legal scholar told the media the case was "unusual" for its emphasis on the harm to the dignity of an artist, rather than to them economically.

The extent to which the case could affect nations abroad is uncertain.

But she said there may be "an increasing number of these actions" in the future with the advancement of AI, where "the integrity of one's creative output might be compromised with greater ease".