diff --git a/zerver/actions/reactions.py b/zerver/actions/reactions.py
index 8f18c6305c..b1f72d2053 100644
--- a/zerver/actions/reactions.py
+++ b/zerver/actions/reactions.py
@@ -5,15 +5,15 @@ from zerver.lib.emoji import check_emoji_request, get_emoji_data
 from zerver.lib.exceptions import ReactionExistsError
 from zerver.lib.message import (
     access_message_and_usermessage,
+    event_recipient_ids_for_action_on_messages,
     set_visibility_policy_possible,
     should_change_visibility_policy,
     visibility_policy_for_participation,
 )
 from zerver.lib.message_cache import update_message_cache
-from zerver.lib.stream_subscription import subscriber_ids_with_stream_history_access
 from zerver.lib.streams import access_stream_by_id
 from zerver.lib.user_message import create_historical_user_messages
-from zerver.models import Message, Reaction, Recipient, Stream, UserMessage, UserProfile
+from zerver.models import Message, Reaction, UserProfile
 from zerver.tornado.django_api import send_event_on_commit
 
 
@@ -43,28 +43,7 @@ def notify_reaction_update(
     # Update the cached message since new reaction is added.
     update_message_cache([message])
 
-    # Recipients for message update events, including reactions, are
-    # everyone who got the original message, plus subscribers of
-    # streams with the access to stream's full history.
-    #
-    # This means reactions won't live-update in preview narrows for a
-    # stream the user isn't yet subscribed to; this is the right
-    # performance tradeoff to avoid sending every reaction to public
-    # stream messages to all users.
-    #
-    # To ensure that reactions do live-update for any user who has
-    # actually participated in reacting to a message, we add a
-    # "historical" UserMessage row for any user who reacts to message,
-    # subscribing them to future notifications, even if they are not
-    # subscribed to the stream.
-    user_ids = set(
-        UserMessage.objects.filter(message=message.id).values_list("user_profile_id", flat=True)
-    )
-    if message.recipient.type == Recipient.STREAM:
-        stream_id = message.recipient.type_id
-        stream = Stream.objects.get(id=stream_id)
-        user_ids |= subscriber_ids_with_stream_history_access(stream)
-
+    user_ids = event_recipient_ids_for_action_on_messages([message])
     send_event_on_commit(user_profile.realm, event, list(user_ids))