Request for manual review — 403 PERMISSION_DENIED / project Restricted

Gemini API
1

Hello Gemini API / Google AI Studio team,

I am requesting a manual review of Gemini API access for my university project.

Project name: EnviroGuard
Project ID: enviroguard-534..
Use case: Final-year university Environmental Health Monitor Android/IoT project
Model: gemini-3.5-flash through Firebase AI Logic
Intended tier: Free Tier

Google AI Studio currently shows the project as:

Status: Restricted

and displays:

“This Project’s API access is restricted. Please set up billing to continue.”

Firebase AI Logic requests reach the backend successfully, but content generation currently returns:

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

Firebase App Check is configured and requests are being verified successfully. The Android implementation has also been verified, and Firebase AI Logic traces confirm that the requests reach the service.

One earlier gemini-3.5-flash request succeeded, but subsequent content-generation requests were denied.

This is a low-volume academic project. Gemini is used only as an optional natural-language explanation layer for already processed environmental measurements. It does not provide medical diagnosis or control the application’s environmental assessment.

I would like to remain on the eligible Free Tier and would appreciate a manual review of the project restriction. If this is an automated security or Trust & Safety false positive, please restore Gemini API access.

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Screenshot 2026-09-04 004953
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I can provide additional project details privately if required.

Thank you.

2

Hello @rafi_chowdhury ,
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:

If you’re on the free tier with no billing attached, please try the below steps:

  1. 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.

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

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

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

  5. 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.