diff --git a/build.gradle.kts b/build.gradle.kts
index 4318c6d00e6598..dbe8e69b2d615b 100644
--- a/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/build.gradle.kts
@@ -31,7 +31,13 @@ allprojects {
             url = uri("$rootDir/node_modules/detox/Detox-android")
         }
         google()
-        mavenCentral()
+        mavenCentral {
+            // We don't want to fetch react-native from Maven Central as there are
+            // older versions over there.
+            content {
+                excludeGroup("com.facebook.react")
+            }
+        }
     }
 
     // used to override ndk path/version from env variables on CI
diff --git a/template/android/build.gradle b/template/android/build.gradle
index db796539cefccb..3be1031fb223dd 100644
--- a/template/android/build.gradle
+++ b/template/android/build.gradle
@@ -29,7 +29,13 @@ allprojects {
             // Android JSC is installed from npm
             url("$rootDir/../node_modules/jsc-android/dist")
         }
-        mavenCentral()
+        mavenCentral {
+            // We don't want to fetch react-native from Maven Central as there are
+            // older versions over there.
+            content {
+                excludeGroup "com.facebook.react"
+            }
+        }
         google()
         maven { url 'https://www.jitpack.io' }
     }