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

A Danish citizen has been convicted of uploading nude segments from protected movies and TV series on the online platform Reddit.

Based on a police report obtained by BBC News, the anonymous individual shared 347 clips of nude content in a Reddit group he moderated, which were then viewed 4.2 million times.

The country's authorities state he has been given a seven-month deferred sentence for copyright infringement.

Legal analysts explain the man was charged under a rarely-used provision in Danish intellectual property legislation, with the court ruling that by removing the footage out of their original context, the man had damaged the artists' "moral rights".

He has additionally been found guilty of distributing more than 25 TB of protected data.

From spring 2022 to mid-2023, the user using the alias "KlammereFyr" on Reddit posted sexually explicit clips including over 100 actresses.

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

Per the Denmark's copyright protection organization The Rights Alliance (TRA), his subreddit had more than 6,000 members and users 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 led to the subreddit being closed down.

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

The actress said the posts amounted to "exploitation".

'An important signal'

The man was arrested in September 2024 and pleaded culpable to the allegations recently.

In a comment after the verdict, TRA head Maria Fredenslund remarked the decision sent an "important" signal "that violations of creators' rights has repercussions".

The verdict is viewed as unprecedented in Denmark for its application of the "ethical protections" section of the Danish Copyright Act, which specifies an artist's work cannot be used in a way which infringes upon their standing.

Intellectual property specialist a legal scholar told the media the case was "unusual" for its emphasis on the harm to the integrity of an performer, rather than to them economically.

How the case could affect other countries is unclear.

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