Twitter has shut down a number of accounts after it was uncovered that they contained a number of disturbing images of child abuse.
According to the NSPCC hackers broke into the private accounts late last night to expose their indecent content.
The charity said it had received a "flurry" of reports during the night relating to at least half a dozen accounts which were later disabled. The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) also received around 30 reports, relating to four accounts. The reports will now be investigated by Twitter.
There has been no confirmation as to where the images were uploaded, the nationalities of the children involved are also unknown.
A spokesman for the NSPCC commented: "Apparently these were pretty disturbing images of child abuse.
"We understand the authorities in the US are now looking at the accounts.
"Twitter are obliged by law to send details of any accounts containing indecent images of children to the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children [NCMEC] in the US.
"NCMEC will then forward information for investigation to law enforcement agencies in the relevant country where the user is believed to be based, or children believed to be at risk."
Twitter has made no official comment on the incident but its policy states "We do not tolerate child pornography on Twitter. When we are made aware of such images they will be removed from the site without further notice."