The FCC has been accused of deliberately inventing a non-existent DDoS attack on its servers to fight back against John Oliver's very public criticism of plans to end net neutrality.  

The first time the HBO talk show host talked about net neutrality, the FCC site crashed with people protesting against plans to deregulate.  

The second time, after Ajit "Hair" Pai resurrected the plan under a more sympathetic administration, the site crashed again.

Except it didn't.  

The FCC released a statement claiming that according to their "analysis" it wasn't the "John Oliver Effect" (yes, it's a real term) in action but rather a deliberate DDoS by "external actors".