What I can tell you is that Google was extremely detailed in their monitoring of my apps - even looking up e.g. rate limits of the steam api to check if I properly deal with those. And I pick that example since I don’t want to talk about the ways I mishandled user data out of negligence or ignorance.
Back then I perceived it as harassment.
Today I will certainly not install any apps that didn’t pass their testing.
And we’re not even talking about deliberate malware but simple incompetence. I would consider the average hobby app project to be borderline malware and a proper QA needs qualified personnel.
I don’t see how F-Droid can ever reach those standards.
Try Vivaldi. I moved to that from brave since I also need proper profiles