NSFW flag incorrectly added to Bible and Quran apps

Apps
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Hi, I recently released v1.6.0 of my app, bible feed, to f-droid.

For some reason it has been tagged as NSFW and I notice this new metadata has been added to the top:

AntiFeatures:
NSFW:
en-US: Promote ■■■■ and violence contents.

https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata/-/blob/master/metadata/com.me2christ.bible_feed.yml

But this is a simple bible reader app that obviously does not promote ■■■■ or violence in any way. I did not add this metadata, so where did it come from and why has it been added?

Please can anyone shed any light as to what is happening here?

Thank you.
Andrew.

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Thank you.

However, my app does not contain any Bible text at all, it is merely a Bible reading tracker.

In addition, the bible does not promote ■■■■ or violence, but condemns and teaches against such things…

Matthew 5:38-40 NKJV
"You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ [39] But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. [40] If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.

Matthew 5:43-44 NKJV
"You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ [44] But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,

Matthew 26:51-52 NKJV
And suddenly, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear. [52] But Jesus said to him, "Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.

Mark 12:30-31 NKJV
And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. [31] And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these."

John 15:12-13 NKJV
This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. [13] Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.

Galatians 5:22-26 NKJV
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. [24] And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Galatians 6:10 NKJV
Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

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My f-droid app page is currently showing this message: “This app contains content that should not be publicised or visible anywhere”.

But this is a false statement because my app does not contain any bible content at all, it is merely a bible reading tracker. All it contains are book names and chapter/verse numbers.

Therefore, would it be possible for this false NSFW to be removed?

Thank you.

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Github issue is at GitHub · Where software is built

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This has happened to several applications that function similarly. A check of the F-Droid page on the anti-features for that tag lists at least 4 Bible apps that I saw, and at least one other religious document.

Could this be a case of malicious false reporting?

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Click my link above

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Recently all Bible apps have been re-categorized as NSFW.

According to the official F-Droid anti-feature definition, Bible apps should not be considered as NSFW.

The current NSFW anti-feature definition is listed here: Anti-Features | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository and copied below for reference:

This Anti-Feature is applied to an app that contains content that the user may not want to be publicized or visible everywhere. The marked app may contain nudity, profanity, slurs, violence, intense sexuality, political incorrectness, or other potentially disturbing subject matter. This is especially relevant in environments like workplaces, schools, religious and family settings. The name comes from the Internet term “Not safe for work”.

The key words here are the user. Apps should only be assigned this anti-feature if the app contains content that the user may not want publicized or visible elsewhere. Most, if not all users of Bible apps would indeed want the content of the apps to be publicized and visible elsewhere, so this anti-feature should not apply to Bible apps according to this definition.

Please consider reverting the commit that caused this issue (And would prevent future Bible apps - if #1 in this ‘plan’ is still in place).

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The current NSFW Anti-Feature definition is overly broad to the point of being vague, and is not applied consistently - I’d even argue that it can barely be applied consistently, since it’s so broad. Reddit apps in the repo are not marked as NSFW, even though reddit includes graphic depictions of violence and even pornographic content, the same applies to 4chan apps. If this definition were to be taken as a prescription, one would even have to mark any news apps as NSFW, since ~all of them regularly feature descriptions of violence, intense sexuality, political incorrectness, and other potentially disturbing subject matter, and the same applies (to a lesser degree) to the wikipedia app, since wikipedia includes graphic depictions of violence.

This is not a workable definition in my opinion, it does not align with common usage of the phrase “NSFW” in any way, and I don’t think anyone benefits from being warned that religious texts include violence, just like no one would benefit from being warned that news apps or wikipedia apps contain violence.

I understand that the NSFW antifeature was added primarily to “cover your ass”, but I don’t think that that is necessary or prudent - even if laws that restrict distributing violent or pornographic content to minors could be interpreted such that they prohibit open access to religious texts, such laws are generally not interpreted that way and are generally not applied to religious texts. Moreover, most if not all current legal restrictions on distributing religious texts are religious persecution, and I don’t think f-droid should want to bow to and collaborate with religious persecution. I’d be appalled if f-droid were to remove or restrict access to Qur’an apps in response to the Trump regime restricting or prohibiting distribution of the Qur’an, or if apps “terrorist” “antifa” content were to be restricted or recategorized due to legal pressure

In addition to the vagueness caused by the definition, there is some inherent vagueness: when is an app considered to “include” content? Browsers obviously don’t include the entire web, but do apps intended to browse specific platforms “include” the content on those platforms? How about apps with a built-in online “catalogue” of available content, such as an ebook reader with a few OPDS catalogues preloaded?

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My own App also got flagged:

This is just going against Christianity. Also my app only shows daily bible verses. And those are only motivational. So really bad practice to mark all Bible Apps nsfw. I don’t think any employee will have a problem reading bible at work. Don’t think any boss says anything about it. Please revert this really odd commit.

In general why add bible apps at all. Never heared from anyone that it not safe for work. Also on Reddit they do not use the NSFW tag for religious subreddit. According your policy also all news and messenger app should get this flag. Also a lot of games. Due there user can read about violence or could send asexual material. This is stupid. So please revert that comment.

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Do note that “NSFW” is just the name of the Anti-Feature. It’s not what the AF about. The

This Anti-Feature is applied to an app that contains content that the user may not want to be publicized or visible everywhere.

part is also a summary. The following details are the definition what we considered as NSFW, i.e.,

nudity, profanity, slurs, violence, intense sexuality, political incorrectness, or other potentially disturbing subject matter

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Yeah but bible apps could be considered as an e book reader maybe with just the bible itself pre loaded in some instances. And flagging them is like censoring a book. The Bible is a historical and literary text, and most Bible apps simply display textual content. Labeling such apps as NSFW introduces unnecessary controversy and may be perceived as ideologically biased — which doesn’t align with F-Droid’s goal of neutrality and open access. For me this sounds more political flagging all apps related to the Bible with NSFW so that they could not be searchable and so on.

For me this decision flagging all Bible app is purley political and have nothing to do with open source and neutrality.

An App like this one is fine where users are confronted with violence: Gloomy Dungeons 2 | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository

And a Bible app just because some text violates the policy? I would not flag any of the app and also not the game i mentioned. You should really reconsider your decision. The Bible is the most sold book in the world and available nearly anywhere. And no user will be directly offended by it only if the interpret it that way.

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I agree with @joshuabeny1999 and @pinoaffe. This seems politically biased.

…political incorrectness…

“Political correctness” changes from year to year and shaky ground that is open to interpretation based on the place you live in. If we’re really concerned about not offending people then revert this because its offensive to a lot of people. :slight_smile:

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Neither do I. I also don’t like the

part which is vague and confusing. But since

we should comply to our policy and flag all apps matching the AF so that we are not

This AF is mostly designed for apps that are not suitable for children. Imagine what a child will feel when they read this in Bible

21:18 Now if someone has a consistently stubborn and rebellious child, who refuses to listen to their father and mother—even when the parents discipline him, he won’t listen to them— the father and mother will take the son before the elders of that city at its gates. Then they will inform the city’s elders: “This son of ours is consistently stubborn and rebellious, refusing to listen to us. What’s more, he’s wild and a drunkard.” Then all the people of that town will stone him until he dies.

or this in Quran

18:74 And so they travelled on. Then, when they met a young boy and the man killed him, Moses said, ‘How could you kill an innocent person? He has not killed anyone! What a terrible thing to do!’
18:80 The young boy had parents who were people of faith, and so, fearing he would trouble them through wickedness and disbelief,

?

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You can nitpick in almost every app and thing about things that would “harm” a child, because a child is immature and can harm himself with anything, and for sure all religious books aren’t meant for children, and all books in general, hence why there is children’s books.

If we go by your logic we would turn f-droid into a children’s playground, is f-droid a children’s app store? This shouldn’t be NSFW, but rather expects a mature user. The same goes for many apps that would and can “harm” an immature user, which (if you think about it) almost all apps, so instead, a children friendly category or version should be made (if you really really care about the children like you say). Not like it would matter, because a child will mostly ignore all the warnings and only install what he pleases, which will probably never be a bible app or a Qur’an app, but rather a game or a stupid app that will rot his brain.

There’s many other apps that should expect a mature user and can harm a child (most apps), yet they aren’t flagged.

Google is already worsening android, so don’t make it worse. We all use and support f-droid to refine our android experience, not to get the same hits but from a different angle. And this “controversial” choices that lacks any improvements are unnecessary, you will only create fire that will burn the community.

Review your choices.

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Thanks for explaining your reasoning, @linsui. I appreciate that you also find parts of the NSFW definition vague and confusing.

However, the idea that religious text apps — such as Bible or Quran readers — should be flagged because certain verses might disturb children feels deeply inconsistent and, honestly, offensive. In one merge request, only Bible apps were flagged under this rule, while no other categories with potentially sensitive content were treated the same way. That selective interpretation gives the impression of bias, even if unintentional, and it’s understandable that many people — myself included — find it disrespectful.

If the current policy can be interpreted in a way that leads to entire categories of religious apps being marked NSFW, then the policy itself is flawed. Religious texts are part of cultural and historical heritage. Taking a few difficult passages out of context ignores their broader meaning and purpose.

Using this same logic, many historical or educational apps could also be considered NSFW — for instance, apps teaching about World War II, slavery, or ancient civilizations. These also describe violence, suffering, and morally difficult events, which could disturb children just as much as certain Bible or Quran passages. Yet they are rightly not flagged.

The NSFW policy should therefore be revised and clarified so that:

  1. It clearly targets apps that actually depict or promote explicit or adult material, not historical, religious, or educational content.

  2. It is applied consistently across all categories, without singling out specific beliefs or cultural materials.

  3. The term “NSFW” — which implies something inappropriate or obscene — could be replaced with something more neutral such as “contains mature or sensitive themes.”

F-Droid has long stood for openness and fairness. I hope this policy can be reviewed and corrected to reflect those principles and to avoid similar misunderstandings or offenses in the future.

I have always recommended and promoted your app to many users, but at this stage, I can no longer do so in good conscience.

Even my non-Christian colleagues agree that flagging Bible apps in this way is inappropriate and sends the wrong message.

Best regards, Joshua Hürzeler

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Flagging Bible and Quran apps as NSFW, even if unintentional, sends the wrong message and goes against F-Droid’s policy on neutrality, while also making it look like F-Droid censors religious and cultural content. Like other people said, this will create unncessary controversy and could potentially damage F-Droid’s reputation.

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Very well put, these are my sentiments exactly.

@linsui The main issues for me are

  • Bible apps are no longer searchable by default.
  • Bible apps were singled out in this change.
  • The NSFW label causes Bible apps to be displayed with a note indicating that the app promotes pornography and other similar content:

Screenshot_20251019-113307
Screenshot_20251019-113307864×1920 150 KB

There is no doubt that the Bible contains mature content and a warning about such is not an issue with me, but to remove the app from search by default and to lump the app in with other apps that we find very offensive is therefore offensive as well.

I have also been a very strong supporter of F-droid (via word of mouth) and at this point feel embarrassed to have recommended this to my Christian friends (who will now have to enable the NSFW filter to download Bible apps that I have recommended to them).

After all of this, I do still want to thank you for supporting and helping the developers of some of these Bible apps to get listed on your platform. I hope the issue here can be quickly resolved in an amicable way.

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So we could rename the anti-feature, but keep it, and all is fine?