The publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary has named “rage bait” its phrase of the year.
Call it the monetization of rage. Rage has become a valuable commodity. (Always follow the money.)
A growing number of online creators are making rage bait. Their goal is to record videos, produce memes, and write posts that make other users furious: conspiracy theories, lies, combustible AI-generated video clips — whatever it takes.
The more content they create, the more engagement they get, the more they get paid.
The rage bait market is worldwide. Since X, Facebook, and Instagram pay certain content creators for posts that drive engagement, people all over the globe have a financial incentive to share material that feeds the anger of American users and will therefore get reposted.
Last week a new feature on X permitting users to see where accounts originate showed that a number of high-engagement MAGA accounts that claim to be those of patriotic Americans are in fact from Russia, Eastern Europe, India, Nigeria, Thailand, and Bangladesh.
It’s not only social media. Much the same is true of Fox News and Newsmax, as well as MSNBC. (The network that’s falling behind is the one that hasn’t taken as clear a side in the outrage wars: CNN.)
This isn’t entirely new.
Years ago, I appeared on several television programs where I debated conservatives. Once, when my opponent and I discovered we agreed on more than we disagreed, the TV producer shouted in my earbud, “More anger!”
I asked the producer during the commercial break why she wanted more anger.
“It’s why people tune in,” she said. “An angry fight attracts more viewers than a calm discussion. People stop scrolling and stay put. Advertisers want this.”
At this point I lost my temper and refused to appear on that program ever again.
Now it’s far worse, because competition for eyeballs and attention is more intense. Rewards for grabbing that attention are greater, and they go to anyone with the ability to create and sell the most outrage.
Our brains are programmed for excitement. Few events get us more excited than being juiced up with rage.
Most large media corporations are moved by shareholder returns, not the common good. This has transformed many journalists from investigators and analysts offering news to “content providers” competing for attention.
Trump’s antics have ruled the airwaves for almost a decade because his eagerness to vilify, disparage, denounce, and lie about others is a media magnet. Regardless of whether you’re appalled or thrilled by his diatribes, they’ve been rage bait.
Media executives love them.
As early as the 2016 presidential race, Leslie Moonves, CEO of CBS, confessed that the Trump phenomenon “may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS,” adding, “Who would have expected the ride we’re all having right now? The money’s rolling in … and this is going to be a very good year for us. Sorry. It’s a terrible thing to say, but bring it on Donald. Keep going.”
The incentive structure in Washington follows the incentive structure in the media because the media is where people get their “news” — not only their understandings of what’s at stake but also their excitement, entertainment, and rage — which correlate directly with the performative rage we witness every day from the inhabitant of the Oval Office and his Republican lackeys.
How to make rage less profitable? Five remedies:
1. Require that news divisions be independent of the executives who represent shareholders — as they were before the 1980s.
2. Ensure that our personal information remains private, guarded from data-mining bots that flood us with custom-tailored news designed to enrage us.
3. Demand that moderation policies be reinstated and enforced on social media.
4. Stop social media corporations from paying “influencers.”
5. Have our schools emphasize critical thinking about what students hear and see in the “news,” so they’re better able to distinguish truth from fiction and real news from hype.
I’d be interested to know your ideas about how we tame the monetization of rage.
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Sia: He’s right. However, so many people now seek out people and places they already know are going to explode their gourds. IOW, they THRIVE on it! How to stop that? Pretty much impossible if you can't stop the content creators. So far, even exposing them as liars hasn't stopped them or their fans.
..clearly targeted at inducing rage - many political.
I also see things where there's some awful-looking picture of someone and they'll say 'You won't BELIEVE what this famous person looks like now!' Or 'You won't BELIEVE their disgusting home!' Some of those are about people like Pelosi or the Obama's, too.
I looked at one or two and the actual article is nothing like the headline. Just bizarre. I don't look at them anymore.
I think Trumpism is helping speed up the coarsening, the vulgarization of America. It's depressing.
RESIST!
The favorite tactic is to post something about not believing who has died
It is way out of control. Selling lies, hate and fear is obviously profitable. It’s tearing our country apart. And when you have shameless ‘leaders’ like dt leading the charge, it will only get worse… until he declares a ‘national emergency’ and tries to take control of the media and call it illegal to criticize him… oh wait
A new thing on Facebook is huge articles full of lies that Colbert, Kimmel,
Maddow, and more have begun new networks and are quitting their current ones.
No one gets too outraged, but MANY respond with loud YAY and a small minority saying NAY. It gets a ton of likes.
In a month or so, they'll wipe the meme and sell the post to the highest bidder who wants it for all the likes so they can build their "brand" already loaded up.
That's what most of the singing cats, cutie pie kids with dogs, like and share to win a huge prize, and other attention getting memes are about. If you tag others, you yank them in too.
The more shares, likes, and c&p that a meme/post gets, the more valuable it is to sell to mostly foreign markets to sell CRAP that no one really likes but has a sh!t-ton of likes built in.
on December 2, 2025, 8:07 am
