Google AI Studio fakes data deletion. VRP auto-banned me in 60s for reporting it.

2 min readJust now--Please read the technical steps before commenting or flagging. This is a reproducible architectural flaw (CWE-459), and Google’s Bug Hunter program just permanently banned me without human review to cover it up.The Illusion of the “Delete” ButtonWhen you click “Delete permanently” in Google AI Studio, the UI explicitly warns you: “The item will be permanently deleted and cannot be recovered later. This action cannot be undone.”But that is a complete lie. The system does not send a deletion cascade to Google’s backend (Interactions API / Project Storage). All it does is move a local .json pointer file into your Google Drive Trash.The Reproducible Proof (Try it yourself):Generate an AI session.Click “Delete permanently”.Look at Google Drive: The .json file is in the trash, and Google Drive’s native Version History has likely saved dozens of previous states of that exact chat.Wait a few days (bypassing Google’s promised 24-hour TTL for free tier).Use Google’s official Drive Recovery Tool (which explicitly says it can recover “permanently deleted files within 25 days” — completely contradicting the UI warning).The Result: The moment the .json file is restored, AI Studio instantly re-binds to the backend and loads the entire chat history in milliseconds.If the backend had actually purged the data, the server would return a 404. It doesn’t. The data never left their “hot storage”. The delete button is just a visual placebo.The Cover-Up (Issue Tracker: 563791693)I submitted a full forensic dossier of this Deceptive Design to the Google VRP (Bug Hunter) program today.Here is the exact timeline:17:55: Ticket created.17:56: Closed as “Status: Won’t Fix (Intended Behavior)”.Same minute: I received an automated email permanently banning my account for “Code of Conduct violations,” with no human review and no right to appeal.By labeling this “Intended Behavior,” Google’s own automated triage system has put in writing that bypassing their 24-hour TTL and lying to users on the UI about permanent destruction is a deliberate corporate feature, not a bug.I have forwarded the complete audit trail and the 106-version drive logs to the CISA and European privacy watchdogs (NOYB) for GDPR Article 17 violations.If you think this is just a “UI glitch,” restore your own trashed JSON files and watch your “permanently deleted” sensitive data resurrect instantly.For the full forensic breakdown, video evidence, and complete audit trail, check out my other articles on Medium: https://medium.com/@istokovicsgyorgy79