Despite Double Moderation, My OpenAI Account Got Suspended – Any Advice?

Hey Indie Makers,

I’m reaching out because I’m a bit stuck. I’ve been running free AI-powered text-based tools and took a lot of precautions to stay within OpenAI’s usage policies. But despite all that, my account still got suspended, and I’m not sure what went wrong.

Here’s what I had in place to avoid any violations:

1. Rate Limiting: I set up IP-based rate limiting to prevent API abuse and stop spamming or overuse by any user.

2. Custom Explicit Word Filtering: I built my own filter to block inappropriate prompts before they even hit the OpenAI API.

3. Double Moderation: Every prompt was checked at two levels. First, it went through OpenAI’s Moderation API. On top of that, I had Gemini’s built-in safety settings activated to block anything related to harassment, violence, or other risky content.

With all these layers, I really thought things were covered. But somehow, my account still got flagged.

Has anyone else faced something like this? Could just a few bad prompts from users cause a suspension, even when double moderation is in place? I’m also wondering if anyone here has successfully appealed a suspension and can share how that went.

Any advice would be super helpful because I’m feeling stuck after putting so much effort into keeping things safe!