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New South Wales authorities have levied a penalty against an US-based online influencer and handed out two driving violation citations for reported negligent driving following a swarm of electric bicycle users gathered on the famous Sydney landmark during peak-hour traffic on a weekday.

The Incident: A Prohibited Ride

A gathering of approximately 40 individuals riding electric bikes and motorbikes travelled along the primary roadway of the bridge, where cycling is prohibited. The assembly subsequently reversed direction and traveled through the city’s CBD and a nearby district.

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

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

Penalties Issued for Content Creator

Later in the week, authorities stated they had issued the American online personality who goes by the influencer, 26, with two traffic infringement notices for careless operation (not involving death or prior injury), carrying a fine of over five hundred dollars and three demerit points per notice, in relation to the bridge incident. They added that the investigation is ongoing.

The influencer reportedly has over 3.4m subscribers on one platform and over 1.2m on the social media app.

Creator's Response

The content creator spoke with a major newspaper recently 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 ride-outs I’ve ever seen," he said. "I am a visitor here, and I intend to abide by the rules and standards of Sydney. When I decided to do a meet and greet it did not involve a ride-out, it was just to say hi under the bridge."

"I did not know the area well, I am to blame we found ourselves on the bridge and I had two choices: whether the group rides the full length of the bridge and comes back, an illegal act. Or we reverse, basically, before we’re on the bridge. I chose at the time to go back."

Broader Context on Electric Bike Rules

The increase of electric bicycles on roads nationwide has sparked increasing demands for regulation. A senior government official, the minister, commented that non-compliant electric bikes were a "total menace on the road."

"Kids have done stupid things on bikes since the invention of the penny-farthing [but] the injuries that are presenting at our hospital emergency departments are absolutely devastating," the minister stated. "We’ve got to make sure we stop these things coming into the country [and] officers are granted the authority to crack down, to confiscate them, to destroy them, to dispose of them."

NSW reported over two hundred injuries related to electric bikes in the previous year. However, in the first seven months of 2025, that figure surged to 233 injuries plus four fatalities.