02/07/2026
*This pic was shared on a local community group this morning. Understandably there was much indignation and anger at this insulting graphic, which isn't a great way to start the day. A quick check proved that this was statement was never uttered or written by this person or reported by the network it is supposed to have come from. This is one of millions of manufactured "rage bait" posts, circulating social media.
*A quick reminder about rage bait...**
Not everything you see on Facebook is designed to inform you. A lot of it is designed to make you angry.
That's called **rage bait**.
Rage bait is content created to trigger a strong emotional reaction—usually anger, outrage, or disbelief—because people are far more likely to comment, share it, or argue in the comments. Every click, reaction, and share tells Facebook's algorithm that people are "engaging" with the post, so it gets shown to even more people.
The people making these posts often don't care whether the information is true or false. Their goal is attention.
And attention makes money.
Many pages earn advertising revenue, sell merchandise, attract followers, or build audiences they can later profit from. The more viral a post becomes, the more valuable that page is. Outrage is simply one of the easiest ways to go viral.
That's why you'll often see headlines that are shocking, divisive, or designed to pit one group against another. Sometimes they're completely made up. Other times they take a real quote and remove the context to change its meaning.
It's really no different from other scams we see online.
Scam phone callers use fear and urgency to stop people thinking clearly. Fake investment scams promise easy money. Romance scammers manipulate emotions to gain trust.
Rage bait works the same way—it uses emotion instead of facts to get what it wants: your attention, your engagement, and ultimately, someone else's profit.
Before sharing something that makes your blood boil, it's worth taking 30 seconds to ask:
* Who originally posted this?
* Is it being reported by reputable news organisations?
* Can I find the full video or article?
* Is someone trying to inform me, or simply provoke me?
The easiest way to stop rage bait is also the most effective: **don't feed it.** If a post is false or deliberately misleading, ignoring it, reporting it, and refusing to share it hurts the people profiting from it far more than arguing in the comments ever will.
In today's world, one of the best forms of digital self-defence isn't avoiding every scam—it's recognising when someone is trying to manipulate your emotions for clicks, money, or influence.
As they say: Follow the money!!
