We explore the role of digital technologies in shaping how elites (organized minority group who occupy ruling power positions within domination structures) emerge and exercise power. Using inductive field methods, we study the case of NouraHub - a digital platform designed to address gender inequalities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Drawing on interviews, archival data, and user activity data, we examine how the NouraHub community emerged as what we call a digital elite, the mechanisms through which such digital elites operates, and how they exercise their power. We find that digital elites raise collective awareness rather than concentrate inequalities, they create openness to redistribute rather than reinforce power, and they empower marginalized voices rather than amplify inequalities. These findings provide important implications to our understanding of elite formation and power in the digital age.
