Tech leaders: Trump would be a ‘disaster for innovation’

A group of prominent tech leaders on Thursday said that a Donald Trump presidency would be bad for innovation in America.

“We have listened to Donald Trump over the past year and we have concluded: Trump would be a disaster for innovation,” they said in posts on The Huffington Post and Medium.

{mosads}“His vision stands against the open exchange of ideas, free movement of people, and productive engagement with the outside world that is critical to our economy — and that provide the foundation for innovation and growth.”

Their statement takes issue with the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s positions on immigration. Building a wall on the border with Mexico is a cornerstone of his campaign, and Trump has also called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S. The technology leaders said that they “believe that progressive immigration policies help us attract and retain some of the brightest minds on earth — scientists, entrepreneurs, and creators.”

Executives at major companies like Slack, Twitter and Instagram signed on to the letter, but did so in their personal capacity.

They also took issue with what they said was a dangerous tendency on Trump’s part to quash free expression.

“Donald Trump proposes ‘shutting down’ parts of the Internet as a security strategy — demonstrating both poor judgment and ignorance about how technology works,” they said. “His penchant to censor extends to revoking press credentials and threatening to punish media platforms that criticize him.”

Trump, unlike presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, has not released a tech policy agenda.

He has regularly attacked major tech companies like Amazon and Apple and has failed to attract support from Silicon Valley’s elite, save for venture capitalist Peter Thiel.