RAGE BAIT

What Does Rage Bait Mean?

What Is It?

Rage bait refers to online content that is designed to trigger strong negative emotions in order to boost engagement, controversy, and visibility. It is content that weaponizes outrage to maximize engagement.

An Evolving Term

By 2023–2024, public usage shifted. People increasingly used rage bait as a catch-all label for any content designed to provoke outrage, regardless of who the target audience was. As social-media algorithms began to reward emotional responses (especially anger), the term expanded. By the end of 2025, rage bait was The Oxford University Press Word of the Year, reflecting this broader meaning. Now, rage bait now refers to any digital content intentionally crafted to elicit strong negative emotions.

"Just Sayin'..."

Not!

Summary of Key Points

Rage Bait
Definition:	Online Content That Weaponizes Outrage To Maximize Engagement
Type:	Word
Guessability:	2: Easily Guessable
Typical Users:	Adults and Teenagers

An Academic Look at Rage Bait

• The Noun (The 'Thing'): This is the content that makes people mad, "That comment thread is pure rage bait."
• The Verb (The 'Action'): This is the act of doing the mad-making, "They are constantly rage baiting their audience for clicks."
• The Adjective(The 'Description'): This is used to describe other nouns that are part of the process, "That was a classic rage-baiting strategy."

Note: "Rage-baiting" should get a hyphen when used as a verb or an adjective.

Example of Rage Bait Used in a Text

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