“Rage farming” or “rage-baiting” are manipulative tactics used by online trolls, designed to elicit outrage with the goal of increasing internet traffic, online engagement, revenue and support. Rage baiting or farming can be used as a tool to increase engagement, attract subscribers, followers, and supporters, which can be financially lucrative. Rage baiting and rage farming manipulates users to respond in kind to offensive, inflammatory headlines, memes, tropes or comments.
Rage-farming became a widespread troll and bot tactic since at least January 2022. It is an offshoot of rage-baiting where the outrage of the person being provoked is farmed or manipulated into an online engagement by rage-seeding that helps amplify the message of the original content creator. It has also been used as a political tactic by podcasters and self-styled online “independent reporters” who specialize in these methods.