Former Biden adviser's op-ed lambasted for claim that the 'First Amendment is out of control'

A guest essay, "The First Amendment Is Out Of Control," published in The New York Times on Tuesday was swiftly criticized on social media.

Tim Wu, a Columbia University law professor and former special assistant to President Biden on the National Economic Council, wrote that "The First Amendment was a tool that helped the underdog."

The guest essay focused on the Supreme Court's decision to send back to lower courts challenges to Florida and Texas laws that restrict how large social media companies moderate user content. Conservatives, among others, on social media questioned the headline and mocked the piece.

"The judiciary needs to realize that the First Amendment is spinning out of control. It is beginning to threaten many of the essential jobs of the state, such as protecting national security and the safety and privacy of its citizens," Wu wrote. "Sometime in this century the judiciary lost the plot. Judges have transmuted a constitutional provision meant to protect unpopular opinion into an all-purpose tool of legislative nullification that now mostly protects corporate interests. Nearly any law that has to do with the movement of information can be attacked in the name of the First Amendment."

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"Surely the New York Times doesn't want the First Amendment repealed or narrowed—unless it's granted special privileges that others don't have," Sen. Mike Lee, R-UT., posted on X.

"The New York Times is attacking *your* freedom of speech," billionaire Elon Musk wrote.

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The president of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) responded to part of Wu's piece.

"Fear