Block an author

POST/v1/authors/{external_id}/blockKey scope write

Sets the author's status to blocked, with an optional reason, until the author is enabled again. The status changes no recommendation by itself: content rules read it through an author status condition, and the automatic trust level is new while the author is not enabled.

Needs a key with the write scope. Authentication

curl https://api.useinfrared.com/v1/authors/user_4821/block \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $INFRARED_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "reason": "Posted promotional reviews again after a suspension"
  }'

const response = await fetch("https://api.useinfrared.com/v1/authors/user_4821/block", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.INFRARED_KEY}`,
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    reason: "Posted promotional reviews again after a suspension",
  }),
});

const data = await response.json();

import os
import requests

response = requests.post(
    "https://api.useinfrared.com/v1/authors/user_4821/block",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['INFRARED_KEY']}"},
    json={
        "reason": "Posted promotional reviews again after a suspension",
    },
)

data = response.json()

200 OKResponse

{
  "object": "author",
  "id": "aut_7ZRftUOZyMjsmFWvJifaOJ",
  "project_id": "prj_0TBAgHGtdMketrbltGFHuk",
  "external_id": "user_4821",
  "display_name": "Maya Okafor",
  "status": "blocked",
  "status_reason": "Posted promotional reviews again after a suspension",
  "status_until": null,
  "trust_level": "new",
  "trust_level_automatic": "new",
  "trust_override": null,
  "risk_score": 1,
  "stats": {
    "moderations": 5,
    "flagged": 5,
    "rejected": 5,
    "reviewed": 0,
    "reports": 0
  },
  "first_seen_at": "2026-10-08T08:50:58.962Z",
  "last_seen_at": "2026-10-08T09:28:46.195Z",
  "metadata": {
    "country": "GB",
    "email_verified": true
  },
  "created_at": "2026-10-08T08:50:59.118Z",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-08T09:29:21.943Z"
}

Path parameters

external_idstringRequired: Your id for the end user. The author must exist: this call does not create one.

Request body

reasonstring: Why the author is blocked. Keep it to 255 characters: validation accepts up to 500, and a reason longer than 255 answers 500 internal_error. Stored as status_reason and sent in the author.blocked event. Omitted or null clears a reason stored earlier.
untiltimestamp: Accepted and ignored: a block has no end date. Only a suspension reads until.

Returns

The author. The author.blocked event is emitted when the status changed.

200 OKAn author object

Errors

404: not_found
The project has no author with this id.
422: validation_error
The body has an unknown key, reason is longer than 500 characters, or until is not ISO 8601 in UTC.

Every endpoint can also answer the errors any request can meet: a missing key, a rate limit, a malformed body. Errors

Something missing or unclear on this page? Write to support@useinfrared.com.