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New South Wales police have issued a fine against an American social media personality and served two traffic infringement notices for reported reckless operation following a large group of electric bicycle users converged on the famous Sydney landmark during peak-hour traffic on a weekday.

The Incident: A Prohibited Ride

A gathering of around 40 individuals operating electric bikes and motorbikes proceeded along the bridge’s main deck, an area where bicycle riding is banned. The riders subsequently reversed direction and traveled through the city’s CBD and a nearby district.

"This had potential for people to be injured and killed," stated a senior police official David Driver on the following day.

Police indicated they did not immediately pursue the group due to safety concerns but instead located the group at a scenic Sydney lookout near the city gardens, at which point they broke up.

Fines Imposed for Influencer

Later in the week, authorities announced they had issued the US social media influencer known as the influencer, twenty-six, with two violation tickets for negligent driving (with no death or previous bodily harm), carrying a fine of $562 and penalty points per notice, in relation to the bridge incident. They added that the investigation is ongoing.

The personality reportedly has more than 3.4m followers on one platform and more than 1.2m on the social media app.

Creator's Response

The online figure spoke with a local publication this week following the event gained traction on news sites and social media, saying he was sorry for giving "the biking community" a bad reputation.

"I’ll probably take responsibility. That was one of the safest gatherings I’ve ever seen," he said. "I am a visitor here, so I’m going to come here respecting the rules and standards of the city. When I decided to do a meet and greet it was not meant to include a group ride, it was just to greet people near the bridge."

"I’m unfamiliar with the city, it was my fault we ended up on the bridge and I had two choices: whether the group rides the full length of the bridge and turns around, an illegal act. Or we reverse, basically, before entering the bridge. And I made the decision at the time to go back."

National Debate on Electric Bike Rules

The spate of e-bikes on streets across the country has prompted growing calls for regulation. The federal health minister, Mark Butler, commented that non-compliant electric bikes were a "total menace on the road."

"Young people have engaged in stupid things on bikes since the invention of the penny-farthing [but] the harm that are presenting at our hospital emergency departments are truly severe," he said. "We’ve got to make sure we stop these things coming into the country [and] officers are given the powers to crack down, to confiscate them, to destroy them, to dispose of them."

NSW recorded 226 injuries related to electric bikes in 2024. But, in the first seven months of 2025, that number jumped to 233 injuries plus four deaths.