Manual review request: account-level Gemini API 403 after all controls

Gemini API
1

Hello Gemini API team,

I am requesting a manual review of what appears to be a false-positive, account-level Trust & Safety restriction.

Every Gemini API request from my project returns PERMISSION_DENIED (HTTP 403), including a minimal text-only request. Google AI Studio also rejects creation of a new project with: Failed to create project, The request is suspicious. Please try again.

Project and use case

  • Project name: Default Gemini Project
  • Project ID: gen-lang-client-06292931..
  • Region: Nigeria
  • Billing: Paid Tier 1 (prepaid), positive balance, no billing warning
  • Use case: low-volume speech evaluation for ELIMI, an African TVET learning startup

Isolation steps completed

  1. Confirmed that generativelanguage.googleapis.com is enabled.
  2. Created a new API key; Google Cloud shows it as Available, service-account-bound, and restricted to the Gemini API.
  3. Confirmed that Nigeria is a supported Gemini API region.
  4. Tested a minimal text-only request using Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite; it returned PERMISSION_DENIED.
  5. Tested a short TTS request; it also returned HTTP 403.
  6. Configured the Google Auth Platform consent screen for an external audience with valid support and contact information. Google reports no project health recommendations.
  7. Repeated the minimal text request on an independent mobile hotspot; the same PERMISSION_DENIED response occurred.
  8. Checked AI Studio and Cloud Billing for appeal banners, verification prompts, payment failures, or restrictions; none are shown.
  9. Contacted Google Cloud Billing Support. They confirmed in writing that the billing account is active and in good standing, with no billing blocks, declines, or payment restrictions. They classified the Gemini API restriction as a technical or product-level policy issue outside Billing Support’s scope.
  10. Checked Google Cloud Support > Cases. The console states that the current support plan does not allow creation of technical cases.

The controls above rule out the prompt, model, TTS preview status, API enablement, key configuration, OAuth setup, billing, supported-region status, and the original network/IP range.

Could a Gemini API team member please escalate this account and project for manual Trust & Safety review and advise how I can provide private account identifiers securely if required? Please do not ask me to post an API key or billing account identifier publicly.

No API key value, billing account identifier, or private email address is included in this post.

Thank you.

2

Hello @Deya_Mwaibong ,

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. 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.

  2. 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.

We apologise if the above doesn’t resolve the problem for you. We’re working to improve our messaging in AI Studio and support processes to handle this better.