403 PERMISSION_DENIED - Your project has been denied access - new project, no billing

Gemini API
1

Hello,

I’m requesting a manual review of my Gemini API project access. I’m getting a
403 PERMISSION_DENIED error on every generateContent call, on a freshly
created project with no prior usage history and no policy violations.

Project name: youtube-automation
Account type: Personal Google account
Billing: Free tier, no Cloud Billing account attached
Generative Language API: ENABLED

Exact error:
{“error”:{“code”:403,“message”:“Your project has been denied access. Please contact support.”,“status”:“PERMISSION_DENIED”}}

This happens on all models (tried gemini-3.6-flash). Google AI Studio
Playground/API key creation worked fine, but actual API requests fail
consistently. Could you please review and unlock access for this project?

Thank you.

2

Hello @Marcos22 ,
Getting a 403 API error response and / or seeing “Unavailable” next to your project in AI audio indicates a flag has been placed on your account. To proceed:

  1. If you’re on the free tier with no billing attached, you should consider setting up billing. In most cases this is enough to clear any flag on your account. Please note this will mean you lose your free tier quota. You should also see a banner in AI studio prompting you to set up billing.

  2. If you are on a paid tier, check for banners / error callouts in the AI Studio Projects page & the Billing page. Mostly these flags cause visible banners or other errors on these pages with concrete next steps / appeal links. You can also check the email address associated with your project for information on next steps.