Need Help - My Account Was Locked

I once had an HF account lock as well, after duplicating a Space that was probably not as harmless as it looked. It was eventually restored after email / HF Discord contact. I do not remember the exact number of days, but the account came back…

Your account does not look deleted to me, since at least some public Space/repo pages still seem reachable. So I would not assume the data is gone. If HF lifts the lock, I would expect the account/repo/Space state to mostly come back normally.

Short version:

• Yes, there are public examples of locked HF accounts being restored.
• Since you already emailed safety@huggingface.co

, you may already have reached the right team.

• I cannot know HF’s internal routing, so I would not say that safety@

is wrong or insufficient.

• If you do not get a reply after a reasonable time, I would also send a concise follow-up to website@huggingface.co

from the email address attached to your HF account.

• If this becomes a formal moderation appeal, HF’s Content Policy also lists legal@huggingface.co

as the route to contest a moderation decision: Hugging Face Content Policy.

• For data recovery, public repos / Spaces may still be downloadable if they are visible. Private repos, secrets, persistent storage, billing, and account settings are probably support-only.

My main advice would be: do not panic, do not create many duplicate tickets, and keep any follow-up factual. Include the account name, the lock message, affected Space/repo links, and what you were doing shortly before the lock.

#

Suggested follow-up email

If you do not get a reply from safety@huggingface.co

, I would send something like this to website@huggingface.co

from the email address attached to your HF account.

Subject: Account locked review request: AntixStudioDesign

Hello Hugging Face team,

My Hugging Face account `AntixStudioDesign` appears to be locked. I am not sure what triggered it. I mainly used the account for personal learning and experiments.

I already contacted `safety@huggingface.co`, but I am also sending this here in case this is the correct route for account / login / internal-alert review.

Account:
- Username: AntixStudioDesign
- Registered email: <your registered email>
- Lock message: <paste exact message or attach screenshot>

Relevant repos / Spaces:
- <link 1>
- <link 2>
- <link 3>

Recent activity before the lock:
- I was experimenting with Hermes Agent and different workflows.
- <briefly list any duplicated Spaces, automation, keep-alive, proxy/API routing, external credentials, large uploads, or unusual activity if applicable>

If I accidentally violated a rule, I am sorry. It was not intentional. Please let me know what I should remove, disable, or change. If the account can be restored, I would really appreciate a review. If restoration is not possible, could you please let me know whether temporary access or data export is possible?

Thank you.

I would keep the message calm and factual. The goal is not to argue with an automated system. The goal is to make it easy for a human at HF to identify the account, understand the recent activity, and route the case correctly.

#

What I would mention if Spaces were involved

Using Hermes Agent by itself does not prove that you did anything wrong. HF has an official Hermes Agent integration page: Hermes Agent.

But if the recent workflow involved Spaces, duplicated Spaces, proxying, keep-alive behavior, API routing, unusual storage/upload patterns, or credentials, I would mention that in the email.

The point is not to accuse yourself. The point is to help HF distinguish between accidental experimentation, a problematic duplicated Space, an automated false positive, and actual abuse.

HF’s Content Policy includes a “Platform Abuse, Security Violations and Spam” section, including things like unauthorized bot APIs, remote management tools, excessive or irrelevant repository data, proxies / tunnels used to bypass restrictions, cryptomining, spam, and similar abuse patterns: Hugging Face Content Policy.

That does not mean your account did any of those things. It only means that Space-related experiments can sometimes overlap with the kinds of signals that platforms monitor.

#

Data recovery notes

If a repo / dataset / Space is public and still visible, you may be able to copy it without account restoration, depending on what is still reachable.

Official docs: Download files from the Hub.

For a public model repo:

hf download AntixStudioDesign/<repo-name> --repo-type model --local-dir ./hf-backup-model

For a public dataset:

hf download AntixStudioDesign/<dataset-name> --repo-type dataset --local-dir ./hf-backup-dataset

For a public Space:

hf download AntixStudioDesign/<space-name> --repo-type space --local-dir ./hf-backup-space

Or from Python:

from huggingface_hub import snapshot_download

snapshot_download(
    repo_id="AntixStudioDesign/<repo-name>",
    repo_type="model",  # use "dataset" or "space" when appropriate
    local_dir="./hf-backup",
)

Important limits:

| Case | Recovery expectation | | Public repo / public Space still visible | Often copyable with git clone , hf download , or snapshot_download() | | Private repo | Probably not accessible while locked unless HF restores access or helps export it | | Space secrets | Do not expect these to be recoverable from the public repo | | Persistent storage / runtime state | Depends on the Space setup and HF support | | Billing / account settings / private tokens | Support-only | | Deleted / disabled content | Support-only |

So I would treat public repos as “possibly recoverable now,” but private data, secrets, and persistent runtime data as “ask HF support.”

#

Some public precedents and why I would not panic yet

A few public threads suggest that an HF account lock is not always permanent, and that account / Space / internal-alert cases can be reviewed by HF support. Of course, none of these proves what happened in your specific case. Only HF can confirm the real reason.

| Public case | What happened | Why it matters here | Locked out of my account | An HF staff member said the account was locked due to one of their internal alerts and asked the user to email website@huggingface.co . The user later posted that they were back. | This is probably the clearest example that an internal-alert lock can be investigated and restored. | Unban me, please | A user reported that their account was restored via safety@huggingface.co . They also said the immediate cause appeared to involve a filter that scans Spaces, while HF was still investigating. | This is useful because you already emailed safety@huggingface.co , and because your issue may also be Space-related. | Why have my space and account been inexplicably banned? | A user reported a sudden account / Space access issue. Another user later said website@huggingface.co restored access for them in a few hours. | This is a useful reassurance case for Space-related account problems. | Cannot Log In, 403 Error and Account Possibly Blocked Without Cause | Another user said they had previously had an account frozen but were able to get it back, and recommended contacting HF by email at website@huggingface.co . | Not an official statement, but it is another public recovery anecdote. | Hello, my account has been blocked? | A user later reported that their account was back, apparently without any notification email. | This suggests that sometimes access may return without a detailed public explanation. | Unable to login and all my spaces are “banned”? | Similar symptoms were discussed: forced logout, Spaces not working, and advice to contact website@huggingface.co with the account name. | This is not a clean recovery report, but it shows that similar account/Spaces symptoms have appeared before. | GitHub issue: storage patterns tripped internal systems | The 403 message itself told the user to contact website@huggingface.co so HF could verify the account and unlock storage for the use case. | This is not the same as an account ban, but it supports the idea that website@huggingface.co is a real practical route for internal-system / verification / unlock cases. | Hugging Face Content Policy | The official policy says users can contest a moderation decision to disable content or suspend / terminate an account by contacting legal@huggingface.co with arguments and evidence. | This is the more formal appeal route if the issue is treated as a moderation decision rather than a simple account-support lock. |

My reading from these examples is:

• A locked account is not necessarily deleted.
• Space-related or internal-alert-related locks can happen.
• Some users have reported restoration after email contact. website@huggingface.co

appears repeatedly in account-lock / internal-alert / verification cases. safety@huggingface.co

can also be relevant, especially if the lock screen or safety review points there. legal@huggingface.co

is the formal Content Policy route for contesting a moderation decision, but I would not treat it as the first everyday support address unless the case clearly becomes a formal appeal.

Bottom line: I would not assume your account or data is gone. There are public restoration examples, and your public pages not being completely gone is a good sign. You already did the most important first step by emailing HF. If there is no response, follow up through website@huggingface.co

with a short, factual summary and links to the affected Spaces/repos.

source & further reading

discuss.huggingface.co — original article Rakarrack-0.6.1 port making progress! ( AI assisted ) Cloud Storage Poll Welcome to Haiku basic(Haiku Docs, Haiku slide and Haiku sheets)