Overview
- Oxford defines the term as online content deliberately crafted to provoke anger to boost clicks, comments and visibility.
- Usage of “rage bait” tripled in 2025 in Oxford’s corpus, with notable spikes in political discussion, viral news and contentious trends.
- More than 30,000 people took part in a public vote after expert analysis, with “aura farming” and “biohack” among the shortlisted finalists.
- Oxford traces the earliest recorded use to a 2002 Usenet post, with the phrase later migrating into mainstream internet jargon.
- Oxford links the pick to 2024’s “brain rot” and notes parallel choices such as Cambridge Dictionary’s “parasocial,” underscoring concern over digital wellbeing.