  The concept of truth, as a public good is the production of a collective
understanding, which emerges from a complex network of social interactions. The
recent impact of social networks on shaping the perception of truth in
political arena shows how such perception is corroborated and established by
the online users, collectively. However, investigative journalism for
discovering truth is a costly option, given the vast spectrum of online
information. In some cases, both journalist and online users choose not to
investigate the authenticity of the news they receive, because they assume
other actors of the network had carried the cost of validation. Therefore, the
new phenomenon of "fake news" has emerged within the context of social
networks. The online social networks, similarly to System of Systems, cause
emergent properties, which makes authentication processes difficult, given
availability of multiple sources. In this study, we show how this conflict can
be modeled as a volunteer's dilemma. We also show how the public contribution
through news subscription (shared rewards) can impact the dominance of truth
over fake news in the network.

Social and Information Networks;Systems and Control