Why social media’s favourite fuel is Oxford University Press’ word of 2025

Oxford University Press has named “rage bait’’ as its word of the year, capturing the internet zeitgeist of 2025.

The phrase refers to online content that is “deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative or offensive,” with the aim of driving traffic to a particular social media account, Oxford said in a statement.

“The person producing it will bask in the millions, quite often, of comments and shares and even likes sometimes,’’ lexicographer Susie Dent told the BBC.

This is a result of the algorithms used by social media companies, “because although we love fluffy cats, we’ll appreciate that we tend to engage more with negative content and content that really provokes us”.

Rage bait topped two other contenders – “aura farming’’ and “biohack’’ – after public comment on a shortlist compiled by lexicographers at Oxford University Press.