Paid Prepay billing active but all image models return 403 PERMISSION_DENIED

Gemini API
1

I set up a new Prepay billing account today (Sep 20, 2026) on project gen-lang-client-02271303.., added COP 15,000 (~$5 USD) in credits, and linked my paid API key (“Gemini API Key”). Billing shows active in the dashboard (“Paid 1” tier) with a small registered spend (COP 6.77), confirming requests are reaching billing.

However, every image-generation request fails with:

Failed to generate content: permission denied. Please try again.

I’ve tested this across three different models – gemini-3.1-flash-image (Nano Banana 2), gemini-3.1-flash-lite-image (Nano Banana 2 Lite), and gemini-2.5-flash-image (Nano Banana) – all fail identically, ruling out a single-model issue. This has persisted for over an hour with no change.

Could someone from the team check whether my project has been flagged by an automated security/fraud check (as seen in similar recent reports), and manually review access? Happy to provide any additional details needed.

2

Hello @Sergio_Heredia ,

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, please try the below steps:

  2. Check Model Availability & Rate Limits:

    • Ensure that the model you are requesting is available on your current plan. For example, not all models are available on the free tier. You can verify model availability, quotas, and limits on the AI Studio Rate Limit dashboard.

  3. Ensure you have completed age verification by navigating to Google Account Age Verification and verifying date of birth in Google Account Personal Info.

  4. Complete Phone Verification and turn on 2-Step Verification (2SV) on the Google Account associated with your project.

  5. Once age, phone and 2sv are configured, retry your request or create a new API key in Google AI Studio.

  6. If completing these steps still does not restore access (or if using a model requiring a paid tier), you might want to consider adding prepayment credits directly in Google AI Studio and/ or attaching a Google Cloud Billing account in the Google Cloud Console. Please note this will mean you lose your free tier quota.

  7. If you are on a paid tier:

    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. You can also check the email address associated with your project for information on next steps.

    2. If your GCP project/ billing account is suspended, you must submit an appeal directly through the Google Cloud Console following the Project Suspension Guidelines (Help Cent

3

Thanks for the detailed checklist! Update on my end:

  • Age verification: my account’s birthday was actually set incorrectly (wrong month). Corrected it to the accurate date of birth.
    • Phone Verification + 2SV: phone number was already verified; I’ve now also turned on 2-Step Verification.
  • Retried image generation right after (gemini-3.1-flash-image) and it still fails with the exact same error: “Failed to generate content: permission denied.”

I also checked, per point 7: no banners or error callouts on the AI Studio Projects page or Billing page, billing still shows active with the balance intact, and no suspension/restriction emails in the inbox associated with the project – just the routine payment receipt and account notifications.

Since I’m on the paid tier and these account-level fixes didn’t change anything, is there something specific your team can check directly on my project (gen-lang-client-022713037..)? Happy to share any further details needed.