Google bans Podcast Addict app over non-approved Covid-19 content

If you are an end user who would like to avoid getting caught in this situation, you might want to switch to using F-Droid [0] as your primary source of Android software. The selection is more limited, but because everything is open source and distributed outside of Google's walled garden, you can be sure that it won't be arbitrarily removed because of the whims of corporate bureaucracy.

I write this not as a dogmatic free software proponent, either; I have bought apps on the Play Store in the past and would consider doing so if the experience weren't so poor. Dealing with the Play Store has gotten so frustrating (not just due to this issue, but also due to the difficulty of filtering out shovelware and spyware) that I only reach for it as a last resort now.

[0] https://f-droid.org/

How does f-droid police "shovelware and spyware"? Or just outright malware? Surely they will remove it? In which case your favourite app might be "arbitrarily removed"?

They try to scan for them, and have reporting options. Its open source apps only, so first, if its removed, then arguments can be made using the full source code as evidence one way or another. And you can always grab the code for your favorite app and build it yourself.

https://f-droid.org/en/docs/Anti-Features/