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New South Wales authorities have levied a penalty against an US-based online influencer and served two traffic infringement notices for alleged reckless operation following a swarm of e-bike riders gathered on the Sydney Harbour Bridge during peak-hour traffic on Tuesday.

The Incident: A Prohibited Ride

A group of around 40 individuals riding e-bikes and motorcycles 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 Haymarket.

"There was a risk of people to be injured and killed," remarked NSW police assistant commissioner David Driver on Wednesday.

Police indicated they did not immediately pursue the group out of concerns for public safety but instead located the group at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair near the Botanic Gardens, at which point they broke up.

Fines Imposed for Content Creator

On Saturday, authorities announced they had issued the US social media influencer known as the influencer, 26, with two violation tickets for negligent driving (not involving death or prior injury), carrying a fine of over five hundred dollars and penalty points per notice, in relation to the bridge ride-out. They added that the investigation is ongoing.

The influencer reportedly has more than 3.4 million subscribers on YouTube and more than 1.2m on Instagram.

Influencer's Comments

The content creator spoke with a local publication this week following the event spread rapidly on news sites and social media, saying he regretted giving "the biking community" a negative image.

"I’ll probably take responsibility. It was one of the safest gatherings I have witnessed," he told the publication. "I am a visitor here, so I’m going to come here respecting the laws and norms of Sydney. So 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 found ourselves on the bridge and I had a decision to make: either the group completes the entirety of the bridge and comes back, which is a crime. Or we reverse, essentially, before entering the bridge. And I made the decision at the time to go back."

National Debate on E-Bike Regulation

The spate of e-bikes on roads nationwide has prompted increasing demands for stricter rules. A senior government official, Mark Butler, commented that illegal ebikes were a "total menace on the road."

"Kids have done stupid things on bikes ever since the penny-farthing [but] the harm that are coming into our hospital emergency departments are absolutely devastating," the minister said. "We’ve got to make sure we prevent these things coming into the country [and] police are granted the powers to crack down, to confiscate them, to crush them, to destroy them."

The state reported 226 injuries associated with electric bikes in 2024. However, in the initial half of 2025, that number jumped to 233 injuries plus four fatalities.