John Oliver may have helped spur 150,000 comments to FCC on network neutrality

Nearly 200,000 people have already commented on network neutrality to the Federal Communications Commission — many likely spurred on by HBO's John Oliver. The comedian and host of the premium pay-TV channel's Last Week Tonight With John Oliver urged viewers to go to the FCC's web site to voice their support for current net neutrality regulations passed in 2015. The FCC had prepared for a new round of public comment after FCC Chairman Ajit Pai began the process of reconsidering the net neutrality rules, which require Internet service providers to treat all legal content equally. When the rules were being debated three years ago, Oliver's encouragement to file comments to the FCC during a June 2014 episode crashed the agency's site. On his latest episode, which debuted Sunday night, Oliver urged viewers with a Shakespearean, "once more into the breach." They apparently responded, with net neutrality comments rising from about 30,000 Monday morning to more than 184,650 by midday May 9.