My Gemini API access has been restricted and AI Studio shows that billing must be enabled to continue.
I am not trying to enable paid billing. I would like to continue using the Free Tier.
I confirmed that this is not specific to my existing project. Today (September 13, 2026), I created a completely new Google Cloud project (“Gemini Test”). No API key was created and no API requests were made from this project. Immediately after importing it into Google AI Studio, the new project was already shown as “Restricted” and the billing tier was unavailable.
My existing “Default Gemini Project” is also Restricted.
The Google Cloud Console also shows no Gemini API traffic for September 12–13 on the existing project.
Could the Gemini API team please manually review the Free Tier restriction on my account/projects and confirm why newly created, unused projects are immediately Restricted?
I do not want to enable paid billing; I am requesting review of the Free Tier access restriction.