Google terms of service violations and Google Cloud resources
Google treats policy and Terms of Service (ToS) violations very seriously inorder to protect users, resources, and data. At the same time at Google weunderstand the value of users' Google Cloud resources andwe have provided safeguards and recovery mechanisms for legitimate users thattemporarily lose access to their Google Cloud resources due to ToSviolations.
This page describes how ToS violations may affect access to yourGoogle Cloud resources and provides best practices to ensure a quickrecovery.
Suspended vs orphaned Project resources
A Project resource or user can be suspended by Google due to ToSviolations. If the user is the sole owner of a Project resource, that Projectwill also be suspended. When this happens, existing workloads are shut down, andusers lose access to the suspended Project resource. Project owners will receivean email notification informing them of the suspension, and how to appeal thesuspension. If a Project resource is suspended for more than nine months, it ismarked for deletion. See thePolicy Violations FAQfor more information on appeal best practices in case of a Project resourcesuspension.
A Project resource becomes orphaned if it does not have an owner, regardless ofwhether they are active or suspended. This might come about if the Googleaccounts belonging to all owners or users associated with the Project resourceare deleted. A Project resource isn't considered orphaned if the owners aresuspended.
Orphaned Project resources are inaccessible. If you want to recover an orphanedproject, reach out toGoogle support. A Projectresource that is orphaned will immediately be marked for deletion unless one ofthe following criteria is met:
- It has some API activity that is reflected in the logs.
- It is associated with a Google Workspacecustomer domain.
- It has a live App Engine app.
- It has any active or future Variable Term Quota.
- It is linked to a Cloud Billing account.
- It is owned by anOrganization resourceresource.
Projects that are marked for deletion are not usable, and will be fully deletedafter approximately 30 days. Some resources, such as Cloud Storage resources,are deleted much sooner. For more information about the project deletionprocess, seeCreating and Managing Projects.
How to avoid orphaned projects
In order to prevent a project from becoming orphaned, we recommend that morethan one owner be associated with the project at all times.
If a project belongs to an Organization resource,then it will always have at least the Organization as an owner and as such willnot be orphaned. The Organization administrator has full control over eachproject in the Organization. To eliminate the risk of a Project resourcebecoming orphaned, we recommend obtaining anOrganization resourceand migrating all production projects under it.
Effect of ToS violations
Google-wide disabled account
In some cases a Google-wide account (which covers access to a variety of Googleproducts like Google Photos, Google Play, Google Drive, and Google Cloud) will bedisabled for violations of a Google ToS, egregious policy violations, or asrequired by law. Owners of disabled Google accounts will not be able to accesstheir Google Cloud resources until the account is reinstated. If anaccount is disabled, a notification is sent to the secondary email addressprovided during the signup process, if available. If a phone number isavailable, the user is notified via text message. The notification includes alink for appeal and recovery, where applicable.
In order to regain access to their Google Cloud resources, owners of disabled Googleaccounts will need to contact Google support and have their account re-enabled.To contact Google support,log in to your Google account.
To minimize the effect of an account being disabled on Google Cloudresources, we recommend that you add more than one owner to all resources. Aslong as there is at least one active owner, Google Cloud resources will not be suspendeddue to the one of the owners being disabled.
Google Cloud account suspension
In certain circ*mstances when a Google Cloud user is consistentlyviolating ToS orGoogle Cloud Acceptable Use Policy(AUP) through their projects, their access toGoogle Cloud may be suspended. When that happens, the developer will notbe able to access their Cloud projects. They will continue to have access toother Google services like Gmail.
When a Google Cloud account is suspended and the developer has at leastone active project, they will get an email informing them about the projectbeing suspended. The developer can go to the Console, fill out the form andreach out to Google to resolve the issue. See thePolicy Violations FAQfor more information on appeal best practices in case of a Project resourcesuspension.
Google Cloud project suspension
Google Cloud projects may be suspended due to violations of the Google Cloud ToS,including the Google Cloud Acceptable Use Policy (Google Cloud AUP). Whenactivities that violate the Google Cloud AUP or ToS are detected in aproject, the project owner has an obligation to fix the violation immediately.If the violation is not fixed, Google may take action to suspend the project. Itis important that Google Cloud developers check the project owner emailaccount regularly. If Google suspends a Google Cloud project then all theassociated Google Cloud workloads will be suspended as well. The owner ofa suspended project will receive a notification email [email protected] with resources to appeal.
If a suspended Project resource has at least one owner, whether active orsuspended, it is not considered orphaned and will not marked be for deletion.However, a Project resource that has been suspended for nine months will bemarked for deletion even if it is not orphaned.
To recover a suspended project fix the issue and follow the link in thenotification email or contact Google Support. To contact Google support,log in to your Google account. See thePolicy Violations FAQfor more information on appeal best practices in case of a Project resourcesuspension.
Cloud Billing account suspension
Google Cloud Cloud Billing accounts may be suspended due toviolations of Google Cloud ToS, missed payments, or for suspected fraud.If a Cloud Billing account is suspended then all Google Cloudresources attached to that Cloud Billing account are suspended as well.
If your Cloud Billing account remains invalid for a protracted period,some resources might be removed from the projects associated with your account.Removed resources are not recoverable. See theResolve Cloud Billing issues page formore information.
To recover a suspended Cloud Billing account, owners can use oneof these options:
Submit documents or request a verification code: UseGoogle payments center to see if you need tosubmit documents or get a verification code.
Learn about verifying an account in Google payments center.
Make a manual payment: In the Google Cloud console, sign in to thePayment overview page for your Cloud Billing account, and clickMake a payment.
Go to Payment overview
Learn about making manual payments to your Cloud Billing account.
You might need to manually restart services that were shut down while theCloud Billing account was suspended.See Restarting Google Cloud servicesfor information on restarting your services.
Cloud resources linked to a suspended Cloud Billing account are notconsidered orphaned, as long as they have at least one active owner.
