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New South Wales authorities have issued a fine against an American social media personality and handed out two driving violation citations for reported negligent driving following a swarm of e-bike riders gathered on the famous Sydney landmark during peak-hour traffic on Tuesday.

The Incident: A Prohibited Ride

A gathering of around 40 individuals riding e-bikes and motorcycles proceeded along the bridge’s main deck, an area where bicycle riding is banned. The riders then turned around and traveled through the city’s CBD and Haymarket.

"There was potential for serious injury or fatalities," remarked a senior police official David Driver on the following day.

Police indicated they did not immediately pursue the group out of concerns for public safety but rather found the group at a scenic Sydney lookout near the Botanic Gardens, at which point they broke up.

Fines Imposed for Influencer

On Saturday, police stated they had issued the American online personality known as the influencer, 26, with two violation tickets for careless operation (not involving death or prior injury), with a penalty of $562 and penalty points each, connected to the bridge ride-out. Officials noted that inquiries were continuing.

The personality is said to have more than 3.4m followers on one platform and over 1.2m on the social media app.

Influencer's Comments

The online figure gave comments to a local publication this week after the incident spread rapidly on digital platforms, saying he was sorry for giving "the biking community" a bad reputation.

"I accept the blame. That was one of the safest gatherings I have witnessed," he said. "I’m coming here as a guest, so I’m going to come here respecting the laws and norms of the city. So when I decided to do a meet and greet it did not involve a group ride, it was just to say hi under the bridge."

"I’m unfamiliar with the city, it was my fault we found ourselves on the bridge and I had a decision to make: whether the group rides the full length of the bridge and comes back, an illegal act. Or we reverse, essentially, before entering the bridge. And I made the decision at the time to turn around."

National Debate on Electric Bike Rules

The increase of e-bikes on streets across the country has sparked increasing demands for regulation. A senior government official, Mark Butler, commented that illegal ebikes were a "total menace on the road."

"Kids have done reckless acts on bikes since the invention of the penny-farthing [but] the injuries that are coming into our ERs are absolutely devastating," the minister said. "We must ensure we prevent these things coming into the country [and] officers are given the powers to crack down, to take them away, to crush them, to dispose of 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.