US Social Media Personality Penalized After Large-Scale Electric Bike Ride on Sydney Harbour Bridge
NSW police have issued a fine against an American social media personality and served two traffic infringement notices for reported negligent driving following a large group of electric bicycle users converged on the Sydney Harbour Bridge during the busy commute on Tuesday.
The Event: An Illegal Gathering
A group of approximately 40 people riding electric bikes and motorbikes proceeded along the primary roadway of the bridge, where cycling is prohibited. The assembly subsequently reversed direction and rode through the city’s CBD and a nearby district.
"There was potential for people to be injured and killed," remarked NSW police assistant commissioner the officer on the following day.
Law enforcement indicated they did not immediately pursue the group due to safety concerns but instead located the assembly at a scenic Sydney lookout near the city gardens, at which point they broke up.
Fines Imposed for Influencer
Later in the week, police stated they had issued the US social media influencer who goes by the influencer, 26, with two violation tickets for careless operation (with no death or previous bodily harm), with a penalty of $562 and three demerit points per notice, in relation to the bridge ride-out. They added that the investigation is ongoing.
The personality is said to have more than 3.4 million followers on one platform and over 1.2 million on the social media app.
Influencer's Comments
The content creator gave comments to a local publication recently after the incident spread rapidly on digital platforms, saying he regretted giving "the biking community" a bad reputation.
"I accept the blame. That was among the safest gatherings I have witnessed," he said. "I am a visitor here, so I’m going to abide by the rules and standards of the city. So when I decided to do a meet and greet it was not meant to include a ride-out, 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: either the group rides the full length of the bridge and turns around, which is a crime. 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 Electric Bike Rules
The increase of e-bikes on roads nationwide has prompted growing calls for regulation. A senior government official, Mark Butler, commented that illegal ebikes were a "total menace on the road."
"Kids have done reckless acts on bikes since the invention of the early bicycle [but] the harm that are coming into our hospital emergency departments are truly severe," he stated. "We’ve got to make sure we stop these things coming into the country [and] police are granted the authority to crack down, to confiscate them, to crush them, to destroy them."
NSW recorded over two hundred injuries associated with electric bikes in the previous year. However, in the initial half of 2025, that figure surged to 233 injuries plus four fatalities.
