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- Hacker News
- i was using antigravity pretty heavily for a while in the spring, it seemed to be a good value for my usage. then i got banned out of the blue for "suspected" ToS violations, with a notification that heavily hinted it was because of openclaw.
i've never used openclaw, never tried to use my google ai subscription anywhere other than the antigravity app. but apparently just "our ai mistakenly suspects you might be using openclaw" is enough to get your google account temporarily suspended. not worth the risk for me, i need a google account more than i need antigravity.
and the ban would be bad enough, but the communication was nonexistent. just a sign-in error on the antigravity app, then a day later it updated to show a vauge warning about openclaw with a link to a random google form to submit an appeal, and then a couple days later my account magically started working again.
by notatoad - Speaking from experience here, they don't ban your entire Google account, they block access to Antigravity (and only that, other Google AI services are still available). Pi very briefly supported logging into Antigravity a few months ago, I did so and made a couple of toy queries and then didn't use it again, and my Antigravity access was suspended until a few weeks ago.
The process to get un-suspended was completely byzantine and Google's own support desk wasn't able to do anything. I just kept trying newer versions of Antigravity until it eventually grew the ability to explain what was going on and then let me request access back.
by julianz - You may also be banned by asking "sensitive" or "inappropriate" questions. So normal usage of Google AI products could also be risky.
I don't care if my Claude or OpenAI account is banned, but risking a Google account is different.
by yellow_lead - Does that apply to the search AI too?by morkalork
- I don't get these model providers forcing people to use their (bad) software. I just downgraded my anthropic account because I can't stand the bugfest that is Claude. I won't even touch google for AI. Doesn't matter if your model is good if I have to use your software.by overgard
- Ad injection or prepping for ad injection.by esseph
- Does Claude not allow third party harnesses?by bitexploder
- With open-weight models getting closer and closer to parity with frontier models for specific tasks (coding,etc) the frontier labs are trying to make moats via their software.
Personally, this is why I foresee Anthropic/OpenAI/Google taking a bath once their creditors come calling. I think the individuals most attached to a specific app are the ones least willing to pay the true cost of inference. (IE: your grandma using chatgpt to ask for recipe recommendations probably isn't going to pay $400/mo).
by segfaultex - That reminds me the story about closing family wide Google accounts, because of a kid, whose account was managed by Google Family Link, was sending naked selfies to Gemini
https://www.pcworld.com/article/3104521/teenagers-gemini-mis...
by pkfz - fwiw, google said that didn't happen.
https://www.androidauthority.com/google-account-bans-3654171...
Not taking a side, but I remember that too and had looked later.
That said, I deliberately don't trust any google services. Fastmail is great; you all should try it. Google capriciously bans accounts, so keep your email elsewhere.
by x0x0 - > (from Twitter) ...My Google account too valuable to risk it impacted by Antigravity usage
If your account is that valuable, it's time to consider moving to a self-hosted option. Or at the very least, start by purchasing a domain and linking it to your Google account, while keeping offline backups of all your emails and documents.
The real problem isn't that Google might accidentally ban you; it's that there's no way to get a human in the loop to review the issue. My client is an enterprise GCP user paying a hefty sum every month and getting someone knowledgeable typically means wading through Gemini or talking to (non-technical) support who just read GCP documentation back to you; and it can take months something to get resolved. Now imagine the situation for someone paying nothing or a double-digit for their gmail account or workspace.
I'm aware people will complain that self-hosting is hard, insecure, etc. but it's like a backup: an annoying process you truly appreciate when shit hits the fan.
by dig1 - typically means wading through Gemini or talking to (non-technical) support who just read GCP documentation back to you
These days, those two might be the same thing.
by userbinator - I used to use Gmail since beta, then moved out last year because of this kind of "situation".by delduca
- If you're, say, Theo, you can selfhost email all you want, but it still ties down your YouTube channel, AdSense, etc., with little to no recourse.by joseda-hg
- I don't self host anymore, as it really is a pain, but use Fastmail instead (while my wife uses Protonmail). I would never rely on Google for, well, anything if I can help it.by tedivm
- This is exactly why I haven't used any of Google's AI stuff. Unlike other providers, I'm risking my email and internet service (GFiber!) to some capricious ban-happy whim you probably can't even appeal.by pram
- >whim you probably can't even appeal.
not to beat a dead horse in this thread , but that should give the motivation needed to seek alternatives.
by serf - > The wording is confusing but the account in question is the Antigravity account. We will change the ToS wording here to make that clearer.
- Varun Mohan on the antigravity team
by simonsarris - Because the wording is the problem not the way how they suspect third party useby croes
- Zero trust in Google making that distinction correctly. Antigravity is DOA for me.by bilalq
- I just cancelled my AI Ultra subscription, despite what he claims the risk is too high and I’ll never put my trust in a Google ban reconsideration.by dahdum
- There is no world in which it makes sense to take this risk. There are plenty of great alternatives where you don't have to worry about playing russian roulette with your entire online identity.by bryan0
- The larger issue here is the fact that access to an account can hold you hostage and impact your life in essential services.
We should really find a way to break the tightly coupling to these platforms, including mobile carriers, and not have to live in fear.
Having a real representative of each platform in a government branch under regular hours that citizens can access with their documents so that any issues with it can be dealt is a good first step.
by hmokiguess - The government haven't noticed that email became as important as regular mail, unfortunately.by killerstorm
- Apart from the products not being very competitive this is the main reason I'm reluctant to use any Google models / AI products. The account is way to precious thing to lose based on some AI classifier misfiring and then you know there's good route to get it reenabled.by danschuller
- If your Google account is precious, you've already done something wrong...by Hizonner
- Couldn't one just make a separate Google account for the models/AI products? I usually have multiple accounts with most providers, multiple banks, multiple brokerages, etc.. It really is not that difficult to manage.
Though, I only have one HN account, fwiw.
by hirvi74 - Same. The more of Google's services I touch, the more chance that some errant auto-moderation system will lock me out of Gmail and their support won't do anything about it. Better to not risk it, I don't even log in to YouTube.by wlesieutre
- Banning the entire account rather than AI access is wildly user hostile. People have years of emails and calendars on their accounts.
And then you get to fight the support bots and eventually go to the actual unofficial Google support - asking hn whether anyone knows someone with a pulse at Google.
by Havoc - That's what happens when you let one company do too much and don't break its monopoly in time.by scotty79