Rage farming, also known as rage baiting, happens when someone purposely tries to make someone else angry or upset. This may be done for personal attention, to bully other people, or to advertise a product or make money. It is often, but not always, done over social media, where rage farming can be done through spreading memes which may be offensive to a person or group of people. Algorithms on social media can make rage farming content more popular and widespread than other content. Outside of the internet, rage farming is often done by making jokes about someone or something.
The phrase rage bait is often spelled as ragebait, without the space between rage and bait.
History
The phrase rage bait is thought to have been invented in 2002. At first it described the angry reaction of some drivers after being flashed at by other drivers who would like to overtake them. As the internet became more popular, internet users would use the word in any situation where one person made another person angry on purpose. Ragebait was named as Oxford University Press's Word of the Year in 2025, and the word was used three times as much in 2025 than in 2024.
Rage farming has been used in politics too. Candidates in the 2024 Presidential Election in the United States of America were criticised for using rage farming to give themselves more attention to win votes instead of attracting voters with good policies.
