In a long-awaited lawsuit, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is suing Amazon for seeking to monopolize the online market, according to Reuters.

The lawsuit convicts Amazon of suppressing competition and stifling innovation from potential rivals, arriving after years of complaints. From the Reuters article:

he lawsuit, which was joined by 17 state attorneys general, follows a four-year investigation and federal lawsuits filed against Alphabet’s Google and Meta Platforms’ Facebook.

“The FTC and its state partners say Amazon’s actions allow it to stop rivals and sellers from lowering prices, degrade quality for shoppers, overcharge sellers, stifle innovation, and prevent rivals from fairly competing against Amazon,” the agency said in a statement.

The FTC said that it was asking the court to issue a permanent injunction ordering Amazon.com to stop its unlawful conduct.

The FTC said that Amazon, founded in 1994 and worth more than $1 trillion, punished sellers that sought to offer prices that were lower than Amazon’s by making it difficult for consumers to find the seller on Amazon’s platform.

–U.S. sues Amazon.com for breaking antitrust law and harming consumers (msn.com)

Amazon’s conduct has “monopoly” written all over it; thus, the lawsuit could yield some radical changes to the ways millions of American shop, perhaps encouraging engagement with smaller vendors and local businesses and bookstores.