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New South Wales authorities have levied a penalty against an American social media personality and handed out two driving violation citations for reported negligent driving after a swarm of e-bike riders converged on the famous Sydney landmark during the busy commute on a weekday.

The Incident: An Illegal Gathering

A gathering of around 40 individuals operating e-bikes and motorcycles travelled along the bridge’s main deck, where cycling is prohibited. The assembly subsequently reversed direction and traveled through the downtown area and a nearby district.

"This had a risk of people to be injured and killed," stated a senior police official the officer on the following day.

Police said they did not chase right away the riders out of concerns for public safety but instead located the assembly at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair near the Botanic Gardens, at which point they broke up.

Fines Imposed for Content Creator

Later in the week, police stated they had issued the US social media influencer who goes by the influencer, 26, with two traffic infringement notices for negligent driving (with no death or previous bodily harm), with a penalty of over five hundred dollars and penalty points per notice, connected to the bridge ride-out. Officials noted that the investigation is ongoing.

The influencer is said to have more than 3.4m subscribers on one platform and more than 1.2m on Instagram.

Influencer's Comments

The online figure gave comments to a local publication this week following the event spread rapidly on news sites and social media, saying he was sorry for giving "the biking community" a negative image.

"I’ll probably take responsibility. That was among the safest ride-outs I’ve ever seen," he told the publication. "I’m coming here as a guest, and I intend to come here respecting the rules and standards of Sydney. So when I decided to do a meet and greet it was not meant to include a ride-out, it was just to say hi near the bridge."

"I did not know the area well, it was my fault we found ourselves on the bridge and I had two choices: either the group completes the entirety of the bridge and comes back, an illegal act. Or we turn around, essentially, before we’re on the bridge. And I made the decision at the time to go back."

Broader Context on Electric Bike Rules

The increase of e-bikes on roads nationwide has prompted increasing demands for stricter rules. The federal health minister, Mark Butler, commented that illegal ebikes were a "complete hazard on the road."

"Young people have engaged in reckless acts on bikes since the invention of the penny-farthing [but] the harm that are presenting at our ERs are absolutely devastating," he said. "We must ensure we prevent these things coming into the country [and] police are given the powers to take strong action, to confiscate them, to crush them, to destroy them."

NSW recorded over two hundred injuries associated with ebikes in 2024. But, in the first seven months of 2025, that number surged to two hundred thirty-three injuries plus four deaths.