Rage Bait: The Word of the Year and Its Reality in Sri Lanka

Online Outrage Shapes Politics and Society in Sri Lanka

- Prasad Perara

Oxford University Press named "Rage Bait" its 2025 Word of the Year, highlighting content designed to provoke anger for engagement.

In Sri Lanka, rage bait extends beyond social media, influencing broadcast, print, and political discourse. Emotionally charged posts and Al-amplified misinformation are reshaping elections, communal relations, and public trust, revealing urgent challenges for citizens, media, and regulators alike.

Oxford University Press has named "RAGE BAIT" as its Word of the Year for 2025.

Defined as "online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive, typically posted in order to increase traffic to or engagement with a particular web page or social media content," rage bait is more than a linguistic trend it reflects the ways in which emotions are manipulated online and, increasingly, offline.

Sri Lanka knows this term all too well. Rage bait is no longer confined to social media; it has influenced print headlines, broadcast debates, and even political campaigns. The consequences of emotionally charged content are already visible in our society, and understanding it is crucial as technology, social media, and artificial intelligence become ever more embedded in daily life. Rage Bait Beyond Social Media Platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and WhatsApp are natural homes for rage bait in Sri Lanka. Provocative videos, misleading narratives, and emotionally charged posts spread rapidly, often bypassing fact-checking mechanisms. Broadcast media and print outlets sometimes replicate this pattern by emphasizing confrontation and sensationalism over context.