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David Swan

David Swan

David Swan is the technology editor for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He was previously technology editor for The Australian newspaper.

Gine Rinehart with Elon Musk.

Gina Rinehart bets $1.4 billion on Musk with record SpaceX stake

The mammoth bet deepens Rinehart’s ties to Musk - the world’s first trillionaire - and US President Donald Trump.

  • David Swan

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The interior of the NextDC 2 Broadcast Way data centre.

Data centres vow to fund Australia’s renewables shift, not derail it

As data centres’ power demand continues to surge, tech giants argue their deep corporate pockets will be an asset for Australia’s green transition.

  • Nick Toscano and David Swan
12 June 2026, SUN EXTRA - Social media case study. Social media ban. Six months in, is it working? Lara is a high school student who was kicked off social media. Photo: Ruby Alexander.

Australia banned under-16s from social media. The world is split on whether to follow

No platform has been fined and the rift between regulator and minister is in the open. How are our world-first social media laws faring?

  • David Swan and Bronte Gossling
Apple chief executive Tim Cook at the annual World Wide Developers Conference.

Apple credits Australia’s teen social media ban for its new controls

Apple chief executive Tim Cook told Anthony Albanese the iPhone maker’s new child-safety tools were “in part inspired” by the world-first social media ban.

  • David Swan
Anthropic’s Claude Mythos Preview has been too powerful to release to the general public.

Anthropic urges global freeze on AI as it warns of losing control

The tech giant has offered to halt work on more powerful systems on one condition: that its rivals in the US and China agree to stop at the same time.

  • David Swan
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant has expressed reservations about the social media ban for under-16s pushed by Minister for Communications Anika Wells.

‘Very blunt approach’: eSafety commissioner questions social media ban

Outspoken comments by the bureaucrat in charge of implementing the federal government’s ban have stirred up opposition to the scheme.

  • Jacqueline Maley and David Swan
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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg “personally authorised and actively encouraged the infringement”, the lawsuit alleges.

Labor holds firm on plan to make tech giants pay for news as Meta attacks

The government is pressing ahead with its plan to make tech giants fund journalism, shrugging off Meta’s claim it amounts to a “discriminatory tax”.

  • David Swan, Calum Jaspan and Nick Newling
Anthropic has plans to broaden bank access to its Mythos cybersecurity tool.

Australia gets access to AI model ‘too dangerous to release’

Mythos is so good at finding software flaws that its maker won’t release it. Now Australia is on the access list.

  • David Swan
Australia’s data centre boom could drive household and business power bills up by as much as 26 per cent and push the nation’s climate targets out of reach.

Data centre boom could send power prices 26 per cent higher: Climate group

As Victoria and NSW chase billions in data centre capital, a report warns households could foot the bill for a dirtier, costlier grid.

  • David Swan and Nick Toscano
Sydney-born Super Bowl winner Jordan Mailata.

‘Here to stay’: The numbers behind the NFL’s major Australian gamble

With 8.8 million local fans and a confidential cheque from Victorian taxpayers, American football is taking on the AFL and NRL.

  • David Swan