John Oliver Hatches A Genius Plot To Ban Robocalls By Robocalling The FCC

"Unleash Hell!": The "Last Week Tonight" team created a program to keep dialing all five commissioners with a special message from Oliver.

It’s easier than ever to create programs to make robocalls ― so easy, that John Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight” team created one in just 15 minutes.

“Everybody is annoyed by robocalls,” the HBO host said. “Hatred of them might be the only thing that everyone in America agrees on now.”

Americans receive nearly 50 billion robocalls a year, and the calls are responsible for 60 percent of all complaints to the Federal Communications Commission. While some of these calls might be useful, such as those that announce school closings, “the vast majority of them vary from the irritating to the outright illegal,” Oliver said.

There’s one agency with the power to curtail the calls and make it easier for Americans to opt out. Yet it hasn’t done it and that’s why Oliver’s special robocall program contains just five phone numbers.

The program will dial the office numbers of all five FCC commissioners and deliver an automated message from Oliver. Best of all, the robocalls will continue, every 90 minutes, until the FCC commissioners are ready to take action.

See Oliver’s explanation of robocalls and why they’re so hard to block, as well as his FCC-dialing program in the clip above.

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