(PatriotWise.com) — Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was among the latest on social media to fall for the long-running prank that has been plaguing college campuses for years.
On Monday, right-leaning “social media strategist” Chuck Callesto posted a picture of a so-called “Masturbation notice” from the University of Waterloo warning students to avoid masturbating in campus showers because the “discharge build-up has caused a blockage to the pipes.”
This prank notice has been spotted on college campuses for years, and every time it appears, some students and social media users, including “social media strategists” and even InfoWars hosts, get fooled into believing it is authentic.
Jones quote-posted Callesto’s post, tweeting “Clown world.”
According to a Reuters fact-check from 2021, the “Masturbation Notice” prank has cropped up at colleges for years.
Reuters fact-checked the notice after it appeared in college bathrooms at UC San Diego.
A spokesperson for UC San Diego confirmed to Reuters that the notice was a fake and not an official notice from the university or the campus housing department. The spokesperson said that the sign was “promptly” removed once the college staff was informed.
While most social media users know that the notice is a prank, there are always some who fall for it hook, line, and sinker.
According to Reuters, a decade ago, HuffPo published a report on how widespread the prank was, citing similar notices and letters from 25 different colleges and universities around the country. All of them contained similar language.
In anticipation of the start of a new school year and another possible spate of phony “Masturbation Notices,” Slate published a report in September 2016 confirming that semen cannot clog shower drains.
The report quoted professors from Baylor College of Medicine and Harvard Medical School who both assured readers that clogged drains were not an issue.
In 2022, Reuters again had to fact-check the story after another “Masturbation Notice,” this time from the University of Maryland, went viral on social media.
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