diff --git a/fdroidserver/common.py b/fdroidserver/common.py
index bda93d65..0451d3c7 100644
--- a/fdroidserver/common.py
+++ b/fdroidserver/common.py
@@ -66,7 +66,6 @@ from urllib.parse import urlparse, urlsplit, urlunparse
 from zipfile import ZipFile
 
 import fdroidserver.metadata
-import fdroidserver.lint
 from fdroidserver import _
 from fdroidserver.exception import FDroidException, VCSException, NoSubmodulesException, \
     BuildException, VerificationException, MetaDataException
@@ -187,7 +186,6 @@ default_config = {
     'archive_name': 'My First F-Droid Archive Demo',
     'archive_description': _('These are the apps that have been archived from the main repo.'),  # type: ignore
     'archive_older': 0,
-    'lint_licenses': fdroidserver.lint.APPROVED_LICENSES,  # type: ignore
     'git_mirror_size_limit': 10000000000,
     'scanner_signature_sources': ['suss'],
 }
diff --git a/fdroidserver/lint.py b/fdroidserver/lint.py
index 64770476..c5794476 100644
--- a/fdroidserver/lint.py
+++ b/fdroidserver/lint.py
@@ -578,11 +578,20 @@ def check_format(app):
 
 
 def check_license_tag(app):
-    """Ensure all license tags contain only valid/approved values."""
-    if config['lint_licenses'] is None:
-        return
-    if app.License not in config['lint_licenses']:
-        if config['lint_licenses'] == APPROVED_LICENSES:
+    """Ensure all license tags contain only valid/approved values.
+
+    It is possible to disable license checking by setting a null or empty value,
+    e.g. `lint_licenses: ` or `lint_licenses: []`
+
+    """
+    if 'lint_licenses' in config:
+        lint_licenses = config['lint_licenses']
+        if lint_licenses is None:
+            return
+    else:
+        lint_licenses = APPROVED_LICENSES
+    if app.License not in lint_licenses:
+        if lint_licenses == APPROVED_LICENSES:
             yield _(
                 'Unexpected license tag "{}"! Only use FSF or OSI '
                 'approved tags from https://spdx.org/license-list'