By Michaela Gordoni
When social media first started, it was about connecting with friends online, but now, it’s about what keeps you scrolling.
Apps like Instagram and TikTok tweak the algorithms to prioritize content that sparks a reaction, said online safety organization Bark.
The Oxford Word of the year for 2025 was rage bait. It defines it as “online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive, typically posted in order to increase traffic to or engagement with a particular web page or social media content.”
This is particularly harmful for kids and teens. Bark said it creates “emotional fatigue from constant intensity, less creative and fewer original perspectives, a distorted sense of what’s normal and less confidence in what to trust.”
Communication scholar Angèle Christin Rage says content creators who make rage bait operate under the idea that all publicity is good publicity.
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“It doesn’t really matter whether the engagement is positive or negative, as long as users watch their content and interact with it through comments and shares to ensure maximum visibility on platforms,” she explained.
One rage baiter, 24-year-old Winta Zesu, made $150,000 from her rage bait content last year.
In her videos, she complains about being about a NYC model who is too pretty. Commenters don’t realize that it’s all a character she created for profit.
“Every single video of mine that has gained millions of views is because of hate comments,” she said.
Piotr Winkielman, a professor of psychology at UC San Diego, shared why viewers are tempted to click on rage bait.
He said rage bait “engages moral emotions, which are powerful drivers of commenting, sharing and arguing. Positive stories spread too, but they don’t create the same level of intense back-and-forth. Negative content pulls us in because it feels like something we need to respond to.”
Parents should teach their children to recognize rage bait and manipulative content. If a post makes them feel angry or defensive on purpose or uses phrases like “no one is talking about this,” it is designed to trigger a reaction, not inform.
Make sure they know to ask questions like “Does this seem real?” and “Who made this and why?” And encourage them to take breaks and only scroll with purpose.
We don’t need to be filling rage baiters’ pockets by giving them what they want — comments, shares, views and interactions. So if you or your child glimpses a rage bait post, just scroll away.
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