# Whilst double-checking settings I was greeted by the notification “Your API key is no longer valid” for Akismet. I didn’t know they expired, maybe something changed with the last JetPack update.
This would explain why I’ve suddenly been getting more spam comments which Akismet really should be blocking. I know they try to “encourage” people to pay on the Basic (read “old free”) tier now - when going to get a new API key the cost slider was set at $27 by default.
