Engagement bait?
Edit: Or in even more general terms, “counterintuitive”?
this post was submitted on 16 Dec 2025
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The problem is what you're linking is something you personally disagree with, but that doesn't mean it's "bait" in the first place. (I probably should've avoided a political example as I think some are getting carried away with that, but it could be anything.)
Different example: I could link something about peanut butter though I hate peanut butter with all my heart and hope it ceases to exist. Yet you'd never call "peanut butter cookies recipe" engagement bait. (Well, probably never...)
The term or phrase has to encompass more than just political sides or something like it. It's the act of spreading something you personally don't want to spread. But what you're helping spread could be benign from most people's perspectives.
Sounds like a cross between the Streisand Effect and a very very mild and/or subjective information hazard
or counterproductive
That sounds like a Streisand effect, or a variation of it.
Definitely not exact, but sort of a variation. Hoping for something that hits it specific but for all I know there might not be a precise term for it yet. (Besides "outrage porn" but even that doesn't hit the nail on the head, just a descriptor.)
Maybe... "there is no such thing as bad publicity" ?
It is itself hyperbole and it's by no means absolute, but yea plenty of times where bad publicity is still publicity.
I believe it's called "Doing exactly what they intended it to make you do."
“Feeding the trolls?”
I just call that biting the ragebait, stranger.
I don't have a word or short phrase for you, but I do have an upvote and engagement. Best I can compare what you describe to is this: Remember when you or one of your friends in grade school smelled a particularly smelly pair of shoes or a bad fart or whatever else, and the immediate reaction is to say to the rest of the group, "Whoa sniff this!"? It's like that.
A good example of this is the stock portfolios that allow you to mimic Nancy Pelosi's investments. By seconding every decision she makes it directly boosts every stock she buys.
I'd just call it misguided.