LONDON – Britain's antitrust watchdog said Monday that it is escalating its investigation of plans by Getty Images to buy rival Shutterstock, stepping up scrutiny of the $3.7 billion deal that would create a visual content giant.

The Competition and Markets Authority said that it was opening an in-depth merger investigation after its preliminary inquiry raised concerns that the deal would result in higher prices, worse commercial terms, or lower quality of editorial and stock images.

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The proposed merger was announced in January with companies that make money from still images created by humans face increasing competition from those generated by artificial intelligence.

The CMA said it was taking a closer look after its initial inquiry found that the combination of

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