Hello Google AI Support Team,
I would like to request a manual review of my Gemini API project. Every call to
generateContent returns 403 PERMISSION_DENIED, while authentication and
non-generative endpoints on the same project work normally.
Project details
- Project name: My Project 2674..
- Project ID: white-dynamo-509603-..
- Project number: 9706475850..
- Created: 24 September 2026
- Billing: no billing account attached; I am using the Free Tier
The error
“403 PERMISSION_DENIED”
“Your project has been denied access. Please contact support.”
Google AI Studio also indicates that API access for this project is restricted,
and prompts me to set up billing.
What I have already ruled out
To save a round trip, I ran the following tests before posting:
-
The API key is valid. GET /v1beta/models?key=… returns HTTP 200 with 50
models listed. -
Non-generative endpoints work. POST
/v1beta/models/gemini-flash-latest:countTokens returns HTTP 200. -
Only generation fails. generateContent returns 403 on every model I tried:
gemini-3.6-flash, gemini-flash-latest, and gemini-3.8-flash. -
This is not a region issue. All requests were made from a US IP address.
-
This is not a key issue. I created a second API key inside the same project.
Both keys return an identical model list (50 models) and an identical 403 on
generateContent. The restriction therefore appears to sit at the project or
account level, not at the key level. -
Account verification is already complete. Phone verification and 2-Step
Verification are both enabled on the Google Account that owns this project,
and the restriction persists.
In short: authentication passes, non-generative endpoints work, and only content
generation is denied.
What I am asking for
Could you review the project and account, and restore Free Tier API access if
this is a false positive? If there is a specific policy, verification step, or
account issue behind the restriction, could you tell me the exact remediation
steps?
Thank you for your time.