Unveiling the Shocking Truth About Medium’s Sinister Clickbait Tactics!

When did Medium become more about the bait and less about the substantial, informative content?

Hafiq Iqmal
6 min readMay 26

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Image by Freepik

Hello, readers. It’s always a delight to engage with you here on Medium, a platform we all value for its exchange of ideas and knowledge. Today, I’d like to bring to light an issue that I feel is not only concerning but something that warrants our collective attention and action:- the increasing proliferation of bait articles on Medium and the potential eclipse of truly informative content.

We’ve all been there. Scrolling through Medium’s front page or your personalized feed, you see a title so tantalizing, you can’t help but click. The promise of a quick-fix, the secret to life’s toughest questions, the ‘one weird trick’ that will solve all your problems. It draws you in, only for you to find a shallow, hastily-written piece that leaves you none the wiser. Welcome to the world of clickbait.

This article will explore the rise of clickbait, how it’s impacting our beloved Medium and what we, as a community of thoughtful readers and writers, can do about it.

The Rise of Clickbait

Clickbait is, in essence, a form of deception. By promising grand revelations or insights, these articles lure readers in, only to deliver sub-par content that rarely lives up to the promise. This tactic is driven by the desire to generate quick traffic, hence revenue, rather than providing any real value to the reader.

The rise of clickbait on Medium is not an isolated phenomenon; it’s a reflection of broader trends in digital media. The proliferation of social media and the democratization of online content creation has led to an oversaturated content landscape, in which creators are constantly vying for attention. This has inadvertently incentivized the production of sensational, attention-grabbing content, often at the expense of depth, accuracy and integrity.

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Hafiq Iqmal

Tech Lead Developer | Software Engineer | Laravel Enthusiasts | CTF Newbie | Medium writer | UiTM Alumni | Husband | Proud father of a beautiful daughter