diff --git a/src/components/views/dialogs/ForwardDialog.tsx b/src/components/views/dialogs/ForwardDialog.tsx
index a831acc5d1..08de387706 100644
--- a/src/components/views/dialogs/ForwardDialog.tsx
+++ b/src/components/views/dialogs/ForwardDialog.tsx
@@ -237,7 +237,8 @@ const ForwardDialog: React.FC<IProps> = ({ matrixClient: cli, event, permalinkCr
         room_id: event.getRoomId(),
         origin_server_ts: event.getTs(),
     });
-    mockEvent.sender = {
+    // @ts-ignore - private field access
+    mockEvent._sender = {
         name: profileInfo.displayname || userId,
         rawDisplayName: profileInfo.displayname,
         userId,
diff --git a/src/components/views/elements/EventTilePreview.tsx b/src/components/views/elements/EventTilePreview.tsx
index dc276858bd..fd30dfe0ea 100644
--- a/src/components/views/elements/EventTilePreview.tsx
+++ b/src/components/views/elements/EventTilePreview.tsx
@@ -89,7 +89,8 @@ export default class EventTilePreview extends React.Component<IProps, IState> {
         /* eslint-enable quote-props */
 
         // Fake it more
-        event.sender = {
+        // @ts-ignore - private field access
+        event._sender = {
             name: this.props.displayName || this.props.userId,
             rawDisplayName: this.props.displayName,
             userId: this.props.userId,
diff --git a/src/hooks/usePinnedEvents.ts b/src/hooks/usePinnedEvents.ts
index bdda4a7701..b065edc83f 100644
--- a/src/hooks/usePinnedEvents.ts
+++ b/src/hooks/usePinnedEvents.ts
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ async function fetchPinnedEvent(room: Room, pinnedEventId: string, cli: MatrixCl
         const senderUserId = event.getSender();
         if (senderUserId && PinningUtils.isUnpinnable(event)) {
             // Inject sender information
-            event.sender = room.getMember(senderUserId);
+            event.setMetadata(room.currentState, false);
             // Also inject any edits we've found
             if (edit) event.makeReplaced(edit);
 
diff --git a/src/indexing/EventIndex.ts b/src/indexing/EventIndex.ts
index 7a126b2ffb..18a2f9d26a 100644
--- a/src/indexing/EventIndex.ts
+++ b/src/indexing/EventIndex.ts
@@ -761,7 +761,8 @@ export default class EventIndex extends EventEmitter {
             // We set this manually to avoid emitting RoomMember.membership and
             // RoomMember.name events.
             member.events.member = memberEvent;
-            matrixEvent.sender = member;
+            // @ts-ignore - private field access
+            matrixEvent._sender = member;
 
             return matrixEvent;
         });
diff --git a/src/utils/exportUtils/Exporter.ts b/src/utils/exportUtils/Exporter.ts
index 3852443d1e..0c549038b4 100644
--- a/src/utils/exportUtils/Exporter.ts
+++ b/src/utils/exportUtils/Exporter.ts
@@ -110,12 +110,7 @@ export default abstract class Exporter {
     }
 
     protected setEventMetadata(event: MatrixEvent): MatrixEvent {
-        const roomState = this.room.currentState;
-        const sender = event.getSender();
-        event.sender = (!!sender && roomState?.getSentinelMember(sender)) || null;
-        if (event.getType() === "m.room.member") {
-            event.target = roomState?.getSentinelMember(event.getStateKey()!) ?? null;
-        }
+        event.setMetadata(this.room.currentState, false);
         return event;
     }
 
diff --git a/src/utils/exportUtils/HtmlExport.tsx b/src/utils/exportUtils/HtmlExport.tsx
index 9bd88dbd45..bc153639bb 100644
--- a/src/utils/exportUtils/HtmlExport.tsx
+++ b/src/utils/exportUtils/HtmlExport.tsx
@@ -350,7 +350,8 @@ export default class HTMLExporter extends Exporter {
         }
         const modifiedEvent = new MatrixEvent();
         modifiedEvent.event = mxEv.event;
-        modifiedEvent.sender = mxEv.sender;
+        // @ts-ignore - private field access
+        modifiedEvent._sender = mxEv.sender;
         modifiedEvent.event.type = "m.room.message";
         modifiedEvent.event.content = modifiedContent;
         return modifiedEvent;
diff --git a/test/test-utils/test-utils.ts b/test/test-utils/test-utils.ts
index 1c78ec024c..e0e3f63088 100644
--- a/test/test-utils/test-utils.ts
+++ b/test/test-utils/test-utils.ts
@@ -405,7 +405,8 @@ export function mkEvent(opts: MakeEventProps): MatrixEvent {
 
     const mxEvent = opts.event ? new MatrixEvent(event) : (event as unknown as MatrixEvent);
     if (!mxEvent.sender && opts.user && opts.room) {
-        mxEvent.sender = {
+        // @ts-ignore - private field access
+        mxEvent._sender = {
             userId: opts.user,
             membership: KnownMembership.Join,
             name: opts.user,
@@ -470,7 +471,8 @@ export function mkMembership(
     }
     const e = mkEvent(event);
     if (opts.target) {
-        e.target = opts.target;
+        // @ts-ignore - private field access
+        e._target = opts.target;
     }
     return e;
 }
diff --git a/test/unit-tests/TextForEvent-test.ts b/test/unit-tests/TextForEvent-test.ts
index 4dfccbb93e..4dbf9badf7 100644
--- a/test/unit-tests/TextForEvent-test.ts
+++ b/test/unit-tests/TextForEvent-test.ts
@@ -179,7 +179,8 @@ describe("TextForEvent", () => {
                     },
                 },
             });
-            mxEvent.sender = { name: userA.name } as RoomMember;
+            // @ts-ignore - private field access
+            mxEvent._sender = { name: userA.name } as RoomMember;
             return mxEvent;
         };
 
diff --git a/test/unit-tests/stores/room-list/previews/ReactionEventPreview-test.ts b/test/unit-tests/stores/room-list/previews/ReactionEventPreview-test.ts
index 8e01460abf..31ecdf1e4f 100644
--- a/test/unit-tests/stores/room-list/previews/ReactionEventPreview-test.ts
+++ b/test/unit-tests/stores/room-list/previews/ReactionEventPreview-test.ts
@@ -122,8 +122,9 @@ describe("ReactionEventPreview", () => {
                 type: "m.reaction",
                 room: roomId,
             });
-            event.sender = new RoomMember(roomId, userId);
-            event.sender.name = "Bob";
+            // @ts-ignore - private field access
+            event._sender = new RoomMember(roomId, userId);
+            event.sender!.name = "Bob";
 
             expect(preview.getTextFor(event)).toMatchInlineSnapshot(`"Bob reacted 🪿 to duck duck goose"`);
         });