The phrase "rage bait" was selected by Oxford University Press as its word of the year for 2025.
Rage bait, which is defined as “deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative or offensive” with the intent of driving traffic to a social media account, topped two other popular online phrases, "aura farming" and "biohack," on the shortlist compiled by Oxford University Press lexicographers.
“The person producing it will bask in the millions, quite often, of comments and shares and even likes sometimes,’’ lexicographer Susie Dent told the BBC while discussing the decision, which she said was made as a result of algorithms used by social media companies, “because although we love fluffy cats, we’ll appreciate that we tend to engage more with negative content and content that really provokes us.”
Rage bait is similar to clickbait as it attempts to lure a reader, but varies as its specific focus is to elicit anger.
"The fact that the word rage bait exists and has seen such a dramatic surge in usage means we're increasingly aware of the manipulation tactics we can be drawn into online," said Casper Grathwohl, president of Oxford Languages, via the BBC. "Before, the internet was focused on grabbing our attention by sparking curiosity in exchange for clicks, but now we've seen a dramatic shift to it hijacking and influencing our emotions, and how we respond.
"It feels like the natural progression in an ongoing conversation about what it means to be human in a tech-driven world - and the extremes of online culture."
Oxford University Press had previously selected "brain rot," which describes the mental drain of mindless scrolling through social media apps, as its word of the year for 2024.
"Together, they form a powerful cycle where outrage sparks engagement, algorithms amplify it, and constant exposure leaves us mentally exhausted," said Grathwohl when describing the 2024 and 2025 word of the year choices.