The big picture: "The companies need to be careful that they're not ... advocating things that would prevent government from being able to, under appropriate review, perform the type of functions that we've come to count on."

Asked if he sees instances of that now, Gates replied: "Oh, absolutely."

Why it matters: With the Big Tech companies feeling they're suddenly drawing unfair scrutiny, this is Microsoft's co-founder saying they're bringing some of the problems on themselves, by resisting legitimate oversight.

Gates in a phone interview ahead of today's release of the annual letter of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: