Integrity error 0x8000002

Good Evening,

I have had no success trying to access Apex Legends for the last week, every time I open it I get the Integrity error 0x8000002 "Apex exited due to an external tool that jeopardizes gameplay integrity." I have the game on Steam. The last time I played this game was in October last year, haven't touched it until 23 Feb and i have been trying since to play. I don't have anything else open other than Steam and Discord and Google Chrome when trying to play.

I have tried the following:
- EA App: Tried App Recovery (Clear cache), uninstalled and reinstalled EA App
- Steam: I have verified game files multiple times, uninstalled and reinstalled game multiple times
- Hotkeys/DS4/Macros: I previously had DS4 but I have uninstalled it completely. Don't have any Hotkeys. Don't know what 'macros' are and not tech savvy enough to know how to download/use them.
- Command Prompt: I have tried DISM restore health. Tried System File Checker.  Tried ipconfig /flushdns. 
- Graphics Card: I have completely uninstalled and reinstalled my Driver (NVIDIA)
- EA AC: I have uninstalled and reinstalled EA Anti Cheat
- Clean Boot: I have done a clean boot of my PC, following the EA website on how to do that.
- I have deleted a myriad of apps/programs that I thought might help like other games, VPNs etc.

I did all of the above in consultation with various reddit threads/EA official support chat lines. They then referred me to make a post here to seek support. Can someone please help me? Is my account 'blacklisted' because I haven't played the game in months with this error in the background? Is there something more I can be doing?