John Oliver's cheeky net neutrality plea crashes FCC website

The US Federal Communications Commission website reported technical difficulties because of heavy traffic hours after comedian John Oliver called on viewers to share their thoughts with the agency about what he called “cable company fuckery.”

“We need you to get out and, for once in your lives, focus your indiscriminate rage in a useful direction,” Oliver said. “Seize your moment my lovely trolls, turn on caps lock, and fly my pretties, fly, fly!”

And, it would appear, they did. Just after the segment aired on HBO, Last Week Tonight, and its fans, said the FCC comment feature was not working. The FCC confirmed that its system was experiencing technical difficulties because of heavy traffic, after Oliver's video was posted and widely shared online.

The next day, it had been viewed nearly 800,000 times. More than 47,000 public comments have been filed on the proposal in the past thirty days. One comment blasted "cable company fuckery," using Oliver's line. Another user cited a claim made by Oliver on the show: "It is embarrassing that Estonia has higher download speeds at lower prices than the USA." One profanity-ridden post concluded with: "John Oliver told me to do this."