diff -u -r ../busybox-1.26.2/coreutils/date.c ./coreutils/date.c
--- ../busybox-1.26.2/coreutils/date.c	2016-12-10 17:46:36.000000000 +0000
+++ ./coreutils/date.c	2017-07-06 22:15:17.528119028 +0000
@@ -293,9 +293,16 @@
 		maybe_set_utc(opt);
 
 		/* if setting time, set it */
+#ifdef __ANDROID__
+		if (opt & OPT_SET) {
+			/* stime(2) is not available on Android and is not allowed anyway. */
+			bb_error_msg("can't set date: Operation not permitted");
+		}
+#else
 		if ((opt & OPT_SET) && stime(&ts.tv_sec) < 0) {
 			bb_perror_msg("can't set date");
 		}
+#endif
 	}
 
 	/* Display output */