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NSW police have levied a penalty against an American social media personality and served two driving violation citations for alleged reckless operation after a large group of electric bicycle users converged 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, where cycling is prohibited. The riders subsequently reversed direction and rode through the city’s CBD and a nearby district.

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

Police said they did not chase right away the riders due to safety concerns but instead located the assembly at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair near the city gardens, at which point they broke up.

Fines Imposed for Content Creator

On Saturday, police announced they had served the US social media influencer known as the influencer, twenty-six, with two traffic infringement notices for careless operation (not involving death or prior injury), carrying a fine of $562 and three demerit points each, in relation to the bridge incident. Officials noted that the investigation is ongoing.

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

Influencer's Comments

The content creator gave comments to a local publication recently following the event gained traction on digital platforms, saying he was sorry for giving "bike life" a negative image.

"I’ll probably take responsibility. That was one of the safest gatherings I’ve ever seen," he told the publication. "I am a visitor here, so I’m going 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 group ride, it was just to say hi under the bridge."

"I did not know the area well, it was my fault we found ourselves on the bridge and I had a decision to make: either the group rides the full length of the bridge and comes back, which is a crime. Or we turn around, basically, before we’re on the bridge. And I made the decision at the time to turn around."

National Debate on E-Bike Regulation

The increase of electric bicycles on roads nationwide has prompted growing calls for regulation. The federal health minister, the minister, recently said that illegal ebikes were a "total menace on the road."

"Young people have engaged in reckless acts on bikes since the invention of the early bicycle [but] the injuries that are presenting at our hospital emergency departments are absolutely devastating," the minister said. "We must make sure we stop these things entering the country [and] officers are given the authority to crack down, to take them away, to destroy them, to dispose of them."

NSW recorded 226 injuries related to electric bikes in the previous year. But, in the initial half of 2025, that figure jumped to 233 injuries plus four deaths.