diff --git a/lib/shared/messages/multimedia-message-spec.js b/lib/shared/messages/multimedia-message-spec.js
--- a/lib/shared/messages/multimedia-message-spec.js
+++ b/lib/shared/messages/multimedia-message-spec.js
@@ -42,13 +42,11 @@
 } from '../../utils/message-ops-utils';
 import { createMediaMessageInfo } from '../message-utils';
 import { threadIsGroupChat } from '../thread-utils';
-import { stringForUser } from '../user-utils';
 import { hasMinCodeVersion } from '../version-utils';
 import {
   pushTypes,
   type MessageSpec,
   type MessageTitleParam,
-  type NotificationTextsParams,
   type RawMessageInfoFromServerDBRowParams,
 } from './message-spec';
 import { joinResult } from './utils';
@@ -265,7 +263,6 @@
   async notificationTexts(
     messageInfos: $ReadOnlyArray<MessageInfo>,
     threadInfo: ThreadInfo,
-    params: NotificationTextsParams,
   ): Promise<NotifTexts> {
     const media = [];
     for (const messageInfo of messageInfos) {
@@ -279,7 +276,7 @@
       }
     }
     const contentString = contentStringForMediaArray(media);
-    const userString = stringForUser(messageInfos[0].creator);
+    const creator = ET.user({ userInfo: messageInfos[0].creator });
 
     let body, merged;
     if (!threadInfo.name && !threadIsGroupChat(threadInfo)) {
@@ -287,16 +284,16 @@
       merged = body;
     } else {
       body = `sent ${contentString}`;
-      const threadName = params.notifThreadName(threadInfo);
-      merged = `${body} to ${threadName}`;
+      const thread = ET.thread({ display: 'shortName', threadInfo });
+      merged = ET`${body} to ${thread}`;
     }
-    merged = `${userString} ${merged}`;
+    merged = ET`${creator} ${merged}`;
 
     return {
       merged,
       body,
       title: threadInfo.uiName,
-      prefix: userString,
+      prefix: ET`${creator}`,
     };
   },