What does "baiting" mean?

What does "baiting" mean? Baiting means deliberately provoking, teasing, or luring someone into reacting, often by making provocative comments, taunts, or traps to elicit emotional response or action. In social context, baiting is tactic to get someone angry or to argue, or to make them say something they might regret, often used in bullying, trolling, or manipulation. In fishing, baiting means putting bait on hook to attract fish. In legal or law enforcement context, baiting can mean luring someone into committing wrongdoing to catch them. In psychology, baiting is form of emotional manipulation where person uses provocative behavior to trigger response and gain control. Online, baiting refers to posting inflammatory content to provoke reactions and create conflict. So baiting generally means using lure or provocation to elicit desired reaction, whether fish biting hook or person reacting emotionally to provocative statement, often with manipulative intent.