The Federal Trade Commission and 17 US states sued Amazon on Tuesday, alleging that the company illegally stifled competition, thus protecting a monopoly in online retail, reports The New York Times.

Amazon would allegedly squeeze merchants and favor its own services, which would produce artificially higher prices, as merchants would be blocked from selling their products for less on other sites. The agency says that Amazon’s tactics made it impossible for other companies to compete.

Amazon has become the latest big tech company to face antitrust suits, as the Justice Department began the third week of an antitrust trial against Google over its power on online search. In addition, the commission sued Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp – now some members of Congress are seeking to create legislation to regulate these companies.

The online retailer company denied the accusations in the lawsuit. David Zapolsky, Amazon’s general counsel, said in a statement that “If the F.T.C. gets its way, the result would be fewer products to choose from, higher prices, slower deliveries for consumers and reduced options for small businesses — the opposite of what antitrust law is designed to do”.

The F.T.C. expects that with this suit, people will benefit. “If we succeed, competition will be restored and people will benefit from lower prices, greater quality, greater selection as a result,” Lina Khan, the F.T.C. chair, said of the lawsuit.

European Union regulators have also expressed concerns about Amazon, in fact, the company agreed last year to display offers from more merchants on individual product pages.

With the lawsuit, some practices of the company could be changed so more merchants can be able to compete against the tech giant.