Just days after comedian John Oliver urged people to comment on the Federal Communications Commission’s website in defense of net neutrality regulations, reports have emerged that the website has been filled with fake comments in support of less regulation.

Following FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s controversial plans to undo the Obama administration’s regulations that all Internet content be treated equally, preventing Internet service providers from throttling or blocking content, Oliver entreated his fans to support those regulations by commenting on the FFC site.

This they did, and once the site was back up again after an apparent cyberattack, millions of comments were left. Many of these, however, were in support of Pai’s planned changes. They also were identical.

The comments read:

“The unprecedented regulatory power the Obama Administration imposed on the internet is smothering innovation, damaging the American economy and obstructing job creation. I urge the Federal Communications Commission to end the bureaucratic regulatory overreach of the internet known as Title II and restore the bipartisan light-touch regulatory consensus that enabled the internet to flourish for more than 20 years.”

It appears that the posts are a result of spambots, using real people’s names, sometimes in alphabetical order. People whose names were used got in touch with The Verge. “That doesn’t even sound like verbiage I would use,” said one person. “I have no idea where that came from,” said another.

The Verge points out that the comment is very similar to a 2010 press release issued by anti-net neutrality group the Center for Individual Freedom. CFIF has admitted it stands behind what is said in the comment, but it’s unlikely it is behind the spamming trail. “Your question about the possibility of someone corrupting the effort is something we need to look into,” a CFIF spokesperson told The Verge.

The issue of spamming became even more muddied when the Washington Free Beacon reported that the site was also inundated with comments using fake names such as John Oliver, Donald Trump, Ajit Pai and Obama. Some of the comments, oddly enough were racially abusive toward Pai. One of many hateful comments said that net neutrality would “cause me to pray for the slow and painful death of Chairman Ajit Pai and every living member of his family, direct or indirect.”

During HBO’s Last Week Tonight show Oliver implored fans to visit a web address his team had set up, gofccyourself.com, and leave pro-net neutrality comments. Under the barrage of these fake comments and malicious attacks on Pai, it would seem his campaign has been ambushed. In 2014, when Oliver induced millions to support net neutrality, it had a profound impact.

The FCC will keep comments on the issue open until August.

Image: Kana Natsuno via Flickr