Maine Attorney General Frey says Amazon has been illegally taking advantage of people living in rural areas.

Maine on Tuesday joined the Federal Trade Commission and 16 other states in suing the e-commerce giant.

“In a rural state like Maine, so many of us increasingly rely on internet vendors to meet our daily needs,” Frey stated on Tuesday. “We believe that Amazon has been exploiting this reliance to illegally enrich itself at the expense of its customers by stifling its competition and hiking up prices. I am proud to join the FTC and my colleagues across the country to add Maine to this pivotal suit.”

The Associated Press reports that the complaint follows a years-long investigation into the company.

“The agency and states that joined the lawsuit are asking the court to issue a permanent injunction court that they say would prohibit Amazon from engaging in its unlawful conduct and pry loose its monopolistic control to restore competition,” the AP reported.

“By stifling competition on price, product selection, quality, and by preventing its current or future rivals from attracting a critical mass of shoppers and sellers, Amazon ensures that no current or future rival can threaten its dominance,” the FTC stated in announcing the suit.

The FTC contends that Amazon’s business practices impact “hundreds of billions of dollar in retail sales every year” and also impacts over a hundred million customers.

“Our complaint lays out how Amazon has used a set of punitive and coercive tactics to unlawfully maintain its monopolies,” said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. “The complaint sets forth detailed allegations noting how Amazon is now exploiting its monopoly power to enrich itself while raising prices and degrading service for the tens of millions of American families who shop on its platform and the hundreds of thousands of businesses that rely on Amazon to reach them. Today’s lawsuit seeks to hold Amazon to account for these monopolistic practices and restore the lost promise of free and fair competition.”

Amazon issued a statement calling the suit misguided.

“We respect the role the FTC has historically played in protecting consumers and promoting competition,” the company stated. “Unfortunately, it appears the current FTC is radically departing from that approach, filing a misguided lawsuit against Amazon that would, if successful, force Amazon to engage in practices that actually harm consumers and the many businesses that sell in our store—such as having to feature higher prices, offer slower or less reliable Prime shipping, and make Prime more expensive and less convenient.

“The FTC’s complaint alleges that our pricing practices, our Fulfillment by Amazon offering, and Amazon Prime are anticompetitive. In so doing, the lawsuit reveals the Commission’s fundamental misunderstanding of retail.”