403 PERMISSION_DENIED: "Your project has been denied access" — Project 5346614112

Gemini API
1

Hello Gemini API Team / DevRel,

I am requesting a manual account-level review for my project. Every API call to generateContent for gemini-2.5-flash is failing with:

403 PERMISSION_DENIED: "Your project has been denied access. Please contact support."

Project Details:

  • Affected Google Cloud Project Number: 5346614112..
  • Model Failing: gemini-2.5-flash (POST /v1beta/models/gemini-2.5-flash:generateContent)
  • Use Case: Private internal automation for comment moderation / draft reply suggestions (LAB.LTD Social Radar). No auto-posting, low volume.

Diagnostic Pass & What Has Been Ruled Out:

  1. Isolated from code: Tested via raw curl / HTTP requests completely outside our codebase.
  2. Metadata endpoints work (200 OK): GET /v1beta/models and GET /v1beta/models/gemini-2.5-flash both return HTTP 200 OK with full model metadata using the same API key.
  3. Model asymmetry: Calling gemini-2.5-pro with the same key returns a standard 429 RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED (free-tier limit reached) with full quota detail objects, proving the key and auth pipeline work normally.
  4. Network/IP independent: Reproduced identically from local machine, GitHub Actions runners, and a separate cloud sandbox.
  5. No visible UI banners: Checked Google AI Studio (“Projects” / “Plan & Billing”) and GCP Console — there are no warning callouts, banners, or account verification popups visible.

This behavior points to an automated identity/account-level risk flag blocking generateContent execution across projects under this Google account.

Could a member of the team please manually inspect project 5346614112.. and restore access? Happy to provide any additional verification if needed.

Thank you!

2

Hello @LAB.LTD ,
Receiving a 403 API error response indicates that your account has been flagged. 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.

3

So I have already had both suppor and Gemnini first tell me the issue was no billing account, and then when I said I don’t want credits I just want to use the free tier, they had me doing the opposite and disconnecting any semblance of wallets. To the point I am now getting warning issues about my Google Workspace payments! I’ve had a back and forth, attach payments, detach… I feel like my head is spinning. I just want free tier access at this point. What do I do? No banners etc.

4

Hello @LAB.LTD,

  1. As you have currently removed your payment method, do you see any banners, warnings, or error messages in Google AI Studio?
  2. What model are you trying to use for your task apart from Gemini 2.5 Flash?
  3. Have you created multiple projects or API keys under this account?
5

Hello @Mahesh_Sutar,

I have the exact same issue. My API key shows “Unavailable” for the Free Tier.

I cannot set up billing to clear the flag because I do not have a credit card. This flag was likely triggered because I recently closed my Google Payments profile (Cloud Case #73647766).

Could you please manually clear this flag on the backend so I can use the Free Tier?

Project ID: gen-lang-client-0117796693

Thank you!