ChatGPT Account Banned: Solutions to OpenAI's Ban on ChatGPT Accounts
Since its release, ChatGPT has become increasingly popular, with more and more users expressing interest and registering to use it. However, in recent times, users have faced difficulties in both writing and logging in, with some even reporting that their ChatGPT accounts have been banned. Additionally, due to the official closure of the registration channel, users are unable to re-register. These events have raised concerns and sparked discussions.
How to Determine If Your Account Has Been Banned?
If you receive the following prompt when attempting to log in to your ChatGPT account, then it has been banned. However, if you receive an error message other than the one shown below, it may not be a ban but rather an offline status due to queueing or network issues in your location. This round of bans applies not only to ChatGPT but also to ChatGPT Plus, with all violations treated equally.
Why were the accounts banned?
- API abuse, using multiple accounts to obtain API services. If it is detected that a person is continuously changing APIs by requesting from the same IP or similar IP, it violates the usage rules of OpenAI API.
- Using in unsupported regions, currently, unsupported regions include China (including Hong Kong), Italy, Iran, Russia, and some parts of Africa.
Current events: Italy blocks access to ChatGPT
On March 31, 2023, the Italian government officially announced the temporary blockade of ChatGPT. The country’s data protection agency stated that OpenAI illegally collected users’ personal data and did not have an age verification system for children. Germany is considering following suit.
- Multi-device sharing: multiple devices using the same account with different IPs logged in. My colleague and I shared a ChatGPT Plus account, and it was banned this morning, but another account has always been used on a single computer without being banned.
- Abnormal payment channels, if you are a plus user, you need to consider whether you are using a proxy payment service. If this type of service involves illegal activities, the official may ban it due to bad debts.
- Violation of OpenAI policies, output information involving violations of domestic and foreign laws, pornography, politics, privacy, etc. will be detected and banned. For more usage policies, please visit OpenAI’s usage policies.
- Large-scale registration of accounts, in unsupported areas with high demand, some businesses provide registration services, where they use programs or manually register a large number of accounts on the same IP in a short period of time, OpenAI will mark this behavior as a BOT, and the probability of banning such accounts is extremely high.
How does OpenAI technically identify banned accounts?
The technical methods for identifying bulk registration accounts can be based on the following methods:
- IP address restriction: restrict multiple accounts from registering on the same IP address to prevent registration restrictions from being bypassed using proxies or other methods.
- The same API key is requested at a high frequency from different IPs.
- Device fingerprint recognition: use fingerprint information such as browser, device model, operating system, screen resolution, etc. to identify whether it is the same device registering, which can effectively prevent registration by changing devices.
- CAPTCHA: verify user identity by requiring the input of a CAPTCHA, preventing robots or script programs from registering in bulk.
- Anti-fraud algorithm: monitors user registration behavior, registration information, and operation trajectory data, and use machine learning or artificial intelligence algorithms to identify abnormal registration behavior, such as registering with the same email suffix or phone number in bulk.
- Email or phone verification: users must verify their email or phone number to prevent registration with fake or unverifiable email or phone numbers.
Possible solutions
Official website appeal: If your account has been banned due to a mistake, you can directly access the appeal page through the link provided in the error message. Some people have even posted appeal guides, which instruct how to express the importance of the content in your account in English and explain that you have not done anything wrong and will not do it again, hoping to be unbanned.
- Avoid logging into the same account on multiple devices.
- For mobile phone users, try logging in on a computer to see if it works.
- Change the IP address, and use an area supported by ChatGPT. After changing, remember to use a fixed IP address and do not change it casually.
- Buy a cloud server in the US and set up a virtual host, then register for a ChatGPT account using a Google email address.
- When purchasing an account, confirm with the agent whether it is a bulk registration account, as bulk accounts will definitely be banned.
- Choose a reliable and secure VPN service, and carefully choose the one that suits you best.
Finally, if you want to solve the account problem completely, it is recommended to use a phone number registered in a region supported by OpenAI (a verification code can be obtained from a reliable virtual verification code platform) to register. When using it, switch the IP address to the same region as the phone number, so as to truly solve the problem. You can use a virtual credit card to pay for ChatGPT Plus.
How to access ChatGPT in Italy?
- VPN: A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is an encrypted connection that can tunnel your network traffic from your local network to a remote server. Make sure to use a trustworthy VPN provider and take appropriate network security measures to protect your data. Here are some recommended VPNs:
- NordVPN: This is a popular VPN service provider with servers in over 59 countries/regions. With NordVPN, you can easily connect to ChatGPT, Playground, and other OpenAI resources. The service is highly secure and fast.
- Surfshark: This is a relatively inexpensive VPN service provider that allows you to use a VPN on an unlimited number of devices. With Surfshark, you can access ChatGPT in Italy, workplaces, and any other blocked locations. The service is easy to use and reliable.
- ExpressVPN: If you want to unlock region-locked and censored content, including ChatGPT in Italy, ExpressVPN may be your ideal choice. It offers fast connection speeds, a no-logs policy, and strong security.
- CyberGhost: This is a VPN service provider that is suitable for beginners and can easily unlock ChatGPT on any device. CyberGhost offers servers in approximately 89 countries/regions.
- IPVanish: If you need fast speed, IPVanish may be your best choice. It offers powerful encryption and fast servers, making it ideal for streaming, gaming, downloading torrents, and using ChatGPT.
- Atlas VPN: This is a relatively new VPN that is cheap and fast, making it ideal for streaming.
- Proxy server: By using a proxy server, users can hide their real IP address and location when accessing the internet. The disadvantage is that the network speed is slow and there is a risk of exposing data and privacy.
- Tor browser: The Tor browser is an open-source browser based on Mozilla Firefox, designed to provide an anonymous way to browse the internet by using multi-layered encrypted routing to hide users’ IP addresses and internet activities. However, it is slow and occasionally blocked by websites on the grounds of security threats.
FAQ
It may be due to unsupported locations, API abuse, using unofficial payment channels, or registering an account with third-party services for profit, etc.
You can appeal to the official channels via email and choose a secure and reliable cloud service.
You can use a secure VPN or proxy server to change your IP address to a non-Italian one in order to access ChatGPT successfully.
