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When Something Is "Blocked by the Content Policy"

What the safety check refuses, what happens when the checker is down, and what it costs you.

What you will see

Some things you type are checked before they are made — image prompts especially. If the check refuses one, you get "Your prompt was blocked by our content safety system. Try rephrasing with more neutral language." and nothing is generated.

There is a middle answer too, naming the categories it tripped: "Your prompt was flagged by our content safety system (…). Try rephrasing with more neutral language." Same advice either way — the wording of your prompt is what tripped it.

What to do about a block

Rewrite the prompt rather than resending it. The check reads what you wrote, so sending the same words again gets the same answer, and there is no appeal button on the screen.

Most blocks come from wording that reads as violent, sexual, hateful, or as an attempt to copy a real person. Describing the same picture in plainer, more specific terms is usually enough — "a knight in battle-worn armour" rather than something gorier, "a cartoon fox mascot" rather than a named character.

If you believe a perfectly ordinary prompt is being refused, that is worth telling us: use the contact form on /support with the prompt itself, so it can be looked at.

When the checker itself is down

Neither check blocks you because of an outage. If the prompt check cannot be reached, your prompt simply goes through without it — so a block on your prompt really is about the words in it, and rewriting is the right response, not waiting.

The after-generation image review mostly behaves the same way: if it cannot be reached or errors, the page shows the picture anyway. The one exception is a review that answers but cannot be read — then the picture is withheld and the credits are refunded. So a block on your prompt is a real decision about your words, but a finished picture can, rarely, be held back by a fault on our side.

A picture blocked after it was made is refunded

Not every check happens before the work. In the Image Creator a picture can be generated and then blocked by the after-generation review — and when that happens the credits come straight back. The message says so itself: "You were not charged."

That refund covers the check on our server. A second check, described below, can still stop a picture you have paid for. If ordinary prompts keep getting blocked at that stage, it is still worth reporting through /support with roughly when it happened. See Refunds When Something Fails.

The second check, after the picture reaches your screen

Some pictures get one more look after they are made: always in the Image Creator's Chat mode, and on the Generate screen when our server was unsure about the prompt or the picture. If that check objects, the picture is not shown and not saved.

• In Chat mode you see "Image flagged:" followed by the reason.
• On the Generate screen the card reads "The finished picture was flagged by the safety review:" and the reason.

What happens to the credits depends on what the check found, and the message ends with one of three sentences:

• The check gave an answer that could not be read: "Your credits were refunded." — they are back on your balance straight away. (If the check is offline altogether you see no message: the picture is simply shown.)
• It is unclear whether the picture breaks the rules: "A person will check this picture; if the problem came from the AI, your credits are refunded." The credits stay taken while someone looks at it, and come back if the problem turns out to have come from the AI rather than your prompt.
• The picture clearly breaks the rules: "This picture was charged." — it was made and paid for, and it is not refunded.

If your balance dropped and none of these sentences fits what you saw, report it through /support with roughly when it happened.

Where to next

• Next in Support & Legal: The Status Page
• If nothing was refused: Why Did It Fail? — The other reasons a generation fails.
• Before you share it: Publishing Rules — What you may publish once it is made.
• Charged for a block: Refunds When Something Fails — What happens to the credits.

9 of 15 in Support & Legal · Last checked 12 September 2026 · Previous: When It Says Rate-Limited