diff --git a/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py b/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py
index 788e64d25c3..2e7c02b7850 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ FILE_COMMON_ARGUMENTS=dict(
     selevel = dict(),
     setype = dict(),
     # not taken by the file module, but other modules call file so it must ignore them.
-    content = dict(),
+    content = dict(no_log=True),
     backup = dict(),
     force = dict(),
     remote_src = dict(), # used by assemble
@@ -884,7 +884,7 @@ class AnsibleModule(object):
             arg_opts = self.argument_spec.get(canon, {})
             no_log = arg_opts.get('no_log', False)
                 
-            if no_log:
+            if self.boolean(no_log):
                 log_args[param] = 'NOT_LOGGING_PARAMETER'
             elif param in passwd_keys:
                 log_args[param] = 'NOT_LOGGING_PASSWORD'
diff --git a/test/integration/roles/test_copy/tasks/main.yml b/test/integration/roles/test_copy/tasks/main.yml
index e168bead9b1..9266a32685c 100644
--- a/test/integration/roles/test_copy/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/test/integration/roles/test_copy/tasks/main.yml
@@ -89,6 +89,7 @@
   assert: 
      that: 
        - "copy_result3|changed"
+       - "'content' not in copy_result3"
 
 # test recursive copy
 
@@ -180,3 +181,4 @@
       - "copy_result6.changed"
       - "copy_result6.dest == '{{output_dir|expanduser}}/multiline.txt'"
       - "copy_result6.md5sum == '1627d51e7e607c92cf1a502bf0c6cce3'"
+