diff --git a/src/vs/base/browser/markdownRenderer.ts b/src/vs/base/browser/markdownRenderer.ts
index b4dd91602b864e..f6ff4f3821608c 100644
--- a/src/vs/base/browser/markdownRenderer.ts
+++ b/src/vs/base/browser/markdownRenderer.ts
@@ -756,7 +756,7 @@ function createPlainTextRenderer(): marked.Renderer {
 		return text;
 	};
 	renderer.codespan = ({ text }: marked.Tokens.Codespan): string => {
-		return escape(text);
+		return text;
 	};
 	renderer.br = (_: marked.Tokens.Br): string => {
 		return '\n';
diff --git a/src/vs/base/test/browser/markdownRenderer.test.ts b/src/vs/base/test/browser/markdownRenderer.test.ts
index 6e539f096559cd..daac674de8c3a0 100644
--- a/src/vs/base/test/browser/markdownRenderer.test.ts
+++ b/src/vs/base/test/browser/markdownRenderer.test.ts
@@ -388,6 +388,11 @@ suite('MarkdownRenderer', () => {
 			const result: string = renderAsPlaintext(markdown, { includeCodeBlocksFences: true });
 			assert.strictEqual(result, expected);
 		});
+
+		test('does not double-escape entities inside code spans', () => {
+			assert.strictEqual(renderAsPlaintext({ value: 'Run `tests & build`' }), 'Run tests & build');
+			assert.strictEqual(renderAsPlaintext({ value: 'Use `<form>` tag' }), 'Use <form> tag');
+		});
 	});
 
 	suite('supportHtml', () => {