diff --git a/ts/util/deleteForEveryone.preload.ts b/ts/util/deleteForEveryone.preload.ts
index 3ca58236a4..4278331a24 100644
--- a/ts/util/deleteForEveryone.preload.ts
+++ b/ts/util/deleteForEveryone.preload.ts
@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@ export async function deleteForEveryone(
   doe: Pick<
     DeleteAttributesType,
     'fromId' | 'targetSentTimestamp' | 'serverTimestamp'
-  >
+  >,
+  { shouldPersist = true }: { shouldPersist?: boolean } = {}
 ): Promise<void> {
   if (isDeletionByMe(message, doe)) {
     const conversation = window.ConversationController.get(
@@ -35,7 +36,7 @@ export async function deleteForEveryone(
       return;
     }
 
-    await handleDeleteForEveryone(message, doe);
+    await handleDeleteForEveryone(message, doe, { shouldPersist });
     return;
   }
 
@@ -50,7 +51,7 @@ export async function deleteForEveryone(
     return;
   }
 
-  await handleDeleteForEveryone(message, doe);
+  await handleDeleteForEveryone(message, doe, { shouldPersist });
 }
 
 function isDeletionByMe(
@@ -70,7 +71,8 @@ export async function handleDeleteForEveryone(
   del: Pick<
     DeleteAttributesType,
     'fromId' | 'targetSentTimestamp' | 'serverTimestamp'
-  >
+  >,
+  { shouldPersist = true }: { shouldPersist?: boolean }
 ): Promise<void> {
   if (message.deletingForEveryone || message.get('deletedForEveryone')) {
     return;
@@ -97,16 +99,18 @@ export async function handleDeleteForEveryone(
       reactions: [],
     });
 
-    // We delete the message first, before re-saving it -- this causes any foreign key ON
-    // DELETE CASCADE and messages_on_delete triggers to run, which is important
-    await DataWriter.removeMessage(message.attributes.id, {
-      cleanupMessages: async () => {
-        // We don't actually want to remove this message up from in-memory caches
-      },
-    });
-    await window.MessageCache.saveMessage(message.attributes, {
-      forceSave: true,
-    });
+    if (shouldPersist) {
+      // We delete the message first, before re-saving it -- this causes any foreign key
+      // ON DELETE CASCADE and messages_on_delete triggers to run, which is important
+      await DataWriter.removeMessage(message.attributes.id, {
+        cleanupMessages: async () => {
+          // We don't actually want to remove this message up from in-memory caches
+        },
+      });
+      await window.MessageCache.saveMessage(message.attributes, {
+        forceSave: true,
+      });
+    }
   } finally {
     // eslint-disable-next-line no-param-reassign
     message.deletingForEveryone = undefined;
diff --git a/ts/util/modifyTargetMessage.preload.ts b/ts/util/modifyTargetMessage.preload.ts
index dab511bde6..2ed8e63071 100644
--- a/ts/util/modifyTargetMessage.preload.ts
+++ b/ts/util/modifyTargetMessage.preload.ts
@@ -355,7 +355,7 @@ export async function modifyTargetMessage(
   const deletes = Deletes.forMessage(message.attributes);
   await Promise.all(
     deletes.map(async del => {
-      await deleteForEveryone(message, del);
+      await deleteForEveryone(message, del, { shouldPersist: !isFirstRun });
       changed = true;
     })
   );
diff --git a/ts/util/onStoryRecipientUpdate.preload.ts b/ts/util/onStoryRecipientUpdate.preload.ts
index dcec3f9d07..837badaf4c 100644
--- a/ts/util/onStoryRecipientUpdate.preload.ts
+++ b/ts/util/onStoryRecipientUpdate.preload.ts
@@ -199,11 +199,15 @@ export async function onStoryRecipientUpdate(
           // sent timestamp doesn't happen (it would return all copies of the
           // story, not just the one we want to delete).
           drop(
-            handleDeleteForEveryone(message, {
-              fromId: ourConversationId,
-              serverTimestamp: Number(item.serverTimestamp),
-              targetSentTimestamp: item.timestamp,
-            })
+            handleDeleteForEveryone(
+              message,
+              {
+                fromId: ourConversationId,
+                serverTimestamp: Number(item.serverTimestamp),
+                targetSentTimestamp: item.timestamp,
+              },
+              { shouldPersist: true }
+            )
           );
         } else {
           message.set({