What's a swarm and what's an individual is largely a point of perspective.

From outside the system, it often looks like an individual.

From inside, it often looks like a swarm.

A company from outside looks like a factory. From the inside it looks more like a rainforest.

As some rando on the internet once said, a company is more like a slime mold than an elephant.

Sometimes where an entity is on the spectrum can swap somewhat suddenly.

An example is that before the Civil War, "United States" was a plural noun (emphasizing the swarm of states), but afterwards it was a singular noun (emphasizing the collective federation).