Twitter has been slammed after accounts used by self-confessed paedophiles were not closed down - despite the users discussing their sick cravings online.

A number of perverts have written that they are 'non-offending' and 'non-contact' paedophiles and have openly discussed their attraction to young children.

And because they claim they do not act on their urges, they are not committing a crime and are therefore not sanctioned by the social media site.

Most of the account holders have used images of cartoons instead of a typical 'profile picture' in an apparent bid to entice children.

Twitter users have been using cartoons as their profile pictures and described themselves as being 'non-offending'

One Twitter user from Chile (left) described himself as being a 'non-offending' paedophile, while another person (right) said paedophilia is 'not the act of abuse'

One Twitter user has a picture of a cartoon dalmatian, while someone else uses an image of Stan Marsh from South Park.

Labour MP Yvette Cooper told The Sun: 'This is very disturbing. How does this fit with Twitter's community standards?

'Twitter should not be allowing accounts that defend or normalise the sexualisation of children.'

Meanwhile, Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen called for Twitter to 'suspend' their accounts.

Kath Stipala, of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, added that Twitter 'needs to get a grip'.

It comes after some of the social media users were discussing being attracted to children as young as five.

According to the newspaper, they also wrote that being attracted to children is not different from being bisexual or gay.

A source told The Sun that the police did not ask Twitter to delete their accounts and that officers find it is a 'useful' insight into online paedophilia.

Another Twitter user admitted that they were 'sexually attracted to children' (left) while another person said they were an 'anti-contact' paedophile

MPs and charities have asked Twitter to do more about the online paedophiles and urged the site to suspend their accounts

On its website, Twitter said they will remove people from the site if they share content 'promoting child sexual exploitation'.

It said: 'We do not tolerate child sexual exploitation on Twitter.

'When we are made aware of links to images of or content promoting child sexual exploitation they will be removed from the site without further notice and reported to The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children ("NCMEC").

'We permanently suspend accounts promoting or containing updates with links to child sexual exploitation.

'If you think you've found a Twitter account distributing or promoting child sexual exploitation while using Twitter, report it here.

'Please provide the username and links to the relevant tweets that lead you to believe the account should be investigated.'