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In a muted rebuke to Trump, Elon Musk says a Muslim ban is ‘not the best way’

But will the tech industry’s stern words be followed by actions?

Asa Mathat

On Saturday, Elon Musk joined the chorus of tech industry leaders who criticized Donald Trump’s move to prevent citizens of several majority-Muslim countries from entering the U.S.

“The blanket entry ban on citizens from certain primarily Muslim countries is not the best way to address the country’s challenges,” Musk said in one tweet, adding in a second that “Many people negatively affected by this policy are strong supporters of the U.S. They've done right, not wrong & don't deserve to be rejected.”

Musk’s comments followed similar condemnations from Apple CEO Tim Cook and the heads of Google, Facebook and Uber.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings was perhaps the most outspoken. “Trump's actions are hurting Netflix employees around the world, and are so un-American it pains us all,” he said in a Facebook post. “Worse, these actions will make America less safe (through hatred and loss of allies) rather than more safe.”

The big question now is what, if any, concrete actions will follow all of Silicon Valley’s stern words.

Neither Musk nor the other tech leaders have proposed much in the way of alternatives to Trump's moves, nor any steps to stop him.


This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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