- Creators use rage-baiting on social media to boost views and engagement intentionally
- Robert Lefkowitz earns nearly $80,000 from X, with 20% of posts designed to provoke
- Murray Hill Guy gained fame from a viral post about a date cancellation over politics
On X, Instagram and TikTok, a growing wave of creators are pulling in millions of views and thousands of dollars by doing one thing - making people angry on purpose. In internet slang, it's called 'rage-baiting', also known as rage-farming' or 'rage-seeding'. It's a deliberate tactic where creators post inflammatory, controversial or absurd takes to trigger angry comments, quote-tweets and arguments. And it works. Every angry reply pushes the post to more feeds, boosts engagement metrics, and drives more revenue from ad-share programmes, subscriptions and follower growth.
Recently, a creator on X revealed that he earned just under $80,000 (around Rs 76 lakh) from the platform, while admitting that some of his most provocative posts were deliberately created to attract engagement. Robert Lefkowitz, who runs the popular X account Murray Hill Guy, told Fortune that he genuinely stands by most of what he posts. However, around 20% of his content is intentionally more provocative because it helps generate reactions and increase engagement.
Lefkowitz started the account after noticing a trend of X users creating accounts based on New York neighbourhoods, with names such as East Village Guy and Williamsburg Wrangler. He chose Murray Hill Guy, after the Manhattan neighbourhood.
His social media persona eventually became a source of income. Over the past two and a half years, Lefkowitz has faced criticism, lawsuits and repeated attempts to expose his identity online. At the same time, X paid him nearly $80,000 through its creator monetisation programme.
Murray Hill Guy received a major boost last summer after Lefkowitz posted a screenshot of a woman cancelling a date with a man who would not reveal whether he had voted for Zohran Mamdani. The post received more than 50 million views and, according to Lefkowitz, brought in about half of his current followers. His next payment from X was in the thousands of dollars.
Since then, his account has largely focused on dating-related content. Some posts have featured controversial takes on women's appearance, dating history and relationships, while others have involved screen recordings of women's dating profiles or TikTok accounts and asked followers to comment on their looks.
His approach has also brought serious backlash. In August, a woman whose photograph he had used alongside a fictional dating story responded by revealing his real name and face. Lefkowitz said it was the fourth or fifth time he had been doxxed, adding that such incidents happen every few months.
Despite the controversies, the account has remained financially successful. Lefkowitz said he typically earns between $3,000 (Rs 2.8 lakh) and $10,000 (Rs 9.5 lakh) a month from X. "Any engagement is good," he said. He also makes money through brand deals and a coaching business. Polymarket, for instance, reportedly paid him $1,500 for a single post.
He spends only around two to three hours a day working on the account, with ideas coming from friends, direct messages and even things he notices while walking to get coffee. For him, almost anything can become content.
Lefkowitz has also acknowledged the contradiction of making a living from social media while sometimes telling people to spend less time online. He views his online persona as separate from his real-life identity and believes most people present a different version of themselves on the internet. "Online isn't real. Everyone has some type of persona online, and yes, it could be in person as well, but usually it's not the same. I can say that for myself too," he said.
While X never contacted him over any alleged rule violations, Lefkowitz said friends working at the company helped get another account banned after it posted his phone number.
