Baghdad: Meta has awarded an Iraqi engineer and member of the Digital Media Center, Moamel Ahmed Shakir, $11,000 after he discovered a critical security vulnerability in one of the company's systems, the center said on Tuesday.

According to Iraqi News Agency, the Digital Media Center stated that the flaw could have affected the privacy of users worldwide if left unaddressed. Meta's security team took 155 days to investigate and fully remediate the vulnerability before approving the fix and issuing the reward.

Shakir was also included in Meta's 2026 recognition list for security researchers and ranked 16th globally in recognition of his contributions to enhancing the platform's security and protecting its users.