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NSW police have levied a penalty against an American social media personality and served two traffic infringement notices for alleged reckless operation after a large group of e-bike riders gathered on the famous Sydney landmark during peak-hour traffic on a weekday.

The Event: An Illegal Gathering

A group of approximately 40 people operating e-bikes and motorcycles proceeded along the primary roadway of the bridge, where cycling is prohibited. The riders subsequently reversed direction and traveled through the city’s CBD and Haymarket.

"There was a risk of people to be injured and killed," stated a senior police official the officer on Wednesday.

Police indicated they did not immediately pursue the group out of concerns for public safety but instead located the assembly at a scenic Sydney lookout near the Botanic Gardens, where they dispersed.

Penalties Issued for Influencer

On Saturday, authorities announced they had served the US social media influencer known as the influencer, twenty-six, with two traffic infringement notices for negligent driving (with no death or previous bodily harm), carrying a fine of $562 and penalty points each, in relation to the bridge ride-out. They added that inquiries were continuing.

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

Influencer's Comments

The online figure spoke with a local publication this week following the event spread rapidly on digital platforms, saying he was sorry for giving "bike life" a negative image.

"I’ll probably take responsibility. It was among the safest gatherings I have witnessed," he told the publication. "I’m coming here as a guest, and I intend to abide by the laws and norms of Sydney. When I decided to do a meet and greet it was not meant to include a ride-out, it was just to say hi under the bridge."

"I’m unfamiliar with the city, it was my fault we ended up 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 turn around, essentially, before we’re on the bridge. And I made the decision at the time to go back."

Broader Context on E-Bike Regulation

The spate of electric bicycles on streets across the country has sparked growing calls for stricter rules. The federal health minister, Mark Butler, commented that illegal ebikes were a "total menace on the road."

"Young people have engaged in stupid things on bikes ever since the early bicycle [but] the injuries that are presenting at our ERs are truly severe," he said. "We must make sure we prevent these things coming into the country [and] police are granted the authority to take strong action, to take them away, to destroy them, to dispose of them."

NSW reported over two hundred injuries related to ebikes in 2024. But, in the initial half of 2025, that figure surged to 233 injuries plus four deaths.