Request for Review: 403 PERMISSION_DENIED — "Your project has been denied access" (individual developer)

Gemini API
1

Hello,

All Gemini API generation requests on my account have been returning 403 since
2026-09-27. The error is identical across every model and every API key I create,
including a brand-new project created today:

403 PERMISSION_DENIED
{“error”:{“code”:403,
“message”:“Your project has been denied access. Please contact support.”,
“status”:“PERMISSION_DENIED”}}

Account: l…@gmail.com
Project IDs affected:

  • axing-509900 (created 2026-09-27)
  • caramel-hallway-503100-..
  • dev-racer-494715-d1

What I have already verified:

  • GET /v1beta/models returns HTTP 200 and lists 50 models
    → so the API keys themselves authenticate correctly
  • POST /v1beta/models/gemini-flash-latest:generateContent → 403
  • POST /v1beta/models/gemini-3-flash-preview:generateContent → 403
  • POST /v1beta/models/gemini-pro-latest:generateContent → 403
  • POST /v1beta/models/gemini-flash-lite-latest:generateContent → 403
  • POST /v1beta/openai/chat/completions → 403
  • Creating a new API key in a new project did not change anything

I am an individual developer using the Gemini API for a personal chat application.
I have not violated the Gemini API Terms of Service, I have no unpaid balance, and
I have no other Google account issues.

This looks like a false positive from an automated classifier. Could a team member
please manually review and restore Gemini API access for these projects?

Thank you.

2

Hello @xiing ,

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 Center)