403 PERMISSION_DENIED — "Your project has been denied access" on brand-new Workspace project (gen-lang-client-0514942..), persists across multiple keys and creation methods

Gemini API
1

Hi team,

I’m requesting a manual review of a brand-new Gemini API project that has been blocked with a 403 “Your project has been denied access. Please contact support.” error since creation, similar to other recent reports in this category.

Project details

  • Project ID: gen-lang-client-05149427..
  • Account: Google Workspace managed account under a verified custom domain (created 2026-08-04)
  • Free tier only, no billing account linked (organizational policy on this account)

Error

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

What I’ve tried

  1. Created an API key via AI Studio’s “Create API key in new project” flow → generate_content fails immediately with the above 403.
  2. To rule out the AI Studio creation path as the cause, manually issued a second API key from the Cloud Console “Credentials” page in the same project → identical 403 error. This suggests the block is applied at the project level, not tied to a specific key or creation method.
  3. Re-tested both keys ~1 day after project creation → same error, no change.
  4. Environment: google-genai Python SDK 2.14.0, calling client.models.generate_content(model=“gemini-2.5-flash”, contents=“Hello”) against the standard Developer API endpoint (generativelanguage.googleapis.com), not Vertex AI.

This looks consistent with the automated new-project fraud-detection flag other users have reported, especially on Workspace-owned projects, where a team member previously acknowledged it as a potential bug (see: 403 PERMISSION_DENIED — "Your project has been denied access" on Workspace-owned project (gen-lang-client-01776000..) ). A similar false-positive case is also discussed here: Request to restore Gemini API access — "Your project has been denied access" (403 PERMISSION_DENIED, suspected false positive)

(Note: as a brand-new forum account I’m limited to 2 links per post, so I couldn’t cite every related thread I found — happy to list more if useful.)

Could someone from the team please take a look and reinstate access for project gen-lang-client-05149427..? Happy to provide any additional details needed for the review.

Thanks!

2

Hi,
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.