Precisely. Getting people upset is the foremost technique to farm engagement on social media. Sites such as Facebook even deliberately altered their algorithms to show content that will anger readers because it works so well to keep them invested.

Engagement bait is omnipresent and really obvious once you learn to spot it - even something as innocuous as one or two “accidental” typos in a meme to get people into the comments section.

You say “wildly wrong”, they say “incentivizing engagement”.

I prefer Pallas’ Cat.

Because then we have someone to blame.

(I kid, I kid. Even if [according to zookeepers who work with them] they’re the demonic personification of every negative cat stereotype out there, I love those murderously grumpy munchkins. They’re my second favorite feline after snow leopards)