Welcome to Checkmate. By submitting a business, browsing the platform, or interacting with our content, you agree to the terms below. We've kept them plain and human — but they are the rules that hold this space together.
Checkmate is a curated discovery and storytelling platform that features Arab-American businesses across the United States. We are an editorial platform — not a marketplace, not a payment processor, and not a sales channel. We do not sell goods or services on behalf of the businesses we feature, and we do not take a percentage of any sale.
Every business on Checkmate is independently owned and solely responsible for its own products, services, customer experience, fulfillment, and communications. Anything you purchase, book, or arrange happens directly between you and that business.
Checkmate reserves the right to approve, refuse, edit, pause, or remove any listing, story, photo, or feature at any time and for any reason. This includes — but is not limited to — submissions that do not fit the platform's mission, contain misleading information, infringe on the rights of others, or no longer meet our editorial standards.
We may also edit submitted text for clarity, tone, length, and grammar so that every feature reads with one consistent editorial voice. We will not change the meaning of a founder's story without their input.
By submitting a business to Checkmate, you confirm that:
You keep ownership of your brand and your content. Checkmate is given permission to use it for the purpose of featuring your business on this platform.
You agree not to:
We may remove a business or feature from the platform at any time if we believe these terms have been broken.
Checkmate provides visibility and storytelling. We do not guarantee a specific level of traffic, customers, sales, growth, press coverage, or business outcomes for any featured business. We are not a party to any transaction between visitors and the businesses we feature, and we are not responsible for the quality, safety, legality, or performance of any product or service offered by them.
If you have an issue with a product, service, or interaction with a featured business, that issue is between you and the business directly.
Checkmate links to external websites, online shops, and social media profiles owned by the businesses we feature. We are not responsible for the content, accuracy, or practices of those external sites. Visiting them is at your own discretion.
The Checkmate name, logo, visual identity, editorial copy, layout, design system, and all original content on this platform are the property of Checkmate and are protected by copyright and trademark law. You may not reproduce, reuse, or commercially exploit any part of the platform without written permission from us.
If you are a featured founder and you wish to have your profile, photos, or story removed from Checkmate, email join.checkmate26@gmail.com and we will honor the request within a reasonable timeframe. If you believe content on the platform infringes your rights, contact us at the same address with details and we will review promptly.
We may update these terms from time to time as the platform grows. When we do, we'll change the "last updated" date at the top of the page. Continued use of Checkmate after an update means you accept the revised terms.
Questions about these terms can be sent to join.checkmate26@gmail.com.