Tracing messages within a message chain

A system for tracing forwards of an electronic message, the system comprising an electronic processor configured to

• store, for each of a plurality of forwarded messages sent via an electronic messaging application, a record in a data store, each of the plurality of forwarded messages resending an original message, and each record including linking data identifying a previous message or the original message for the forwarded message;
• in response to receiving, for one of the plurality of forwarded messages, a request to revoke the one of the plurality of forwarded messages from a recipient of the one of the plurality of forwarded messages:
• determine an original message of the one of the plurality of forwarded messages using one or more data records in the data store and linking data included in the record for the one of the plurality of forwarded messages,
• increment a counter associated with the original message tracking requests to revoke the original message;
• output, based on a value of the counter for the original message, a number of requests to revoke the original message for display to a user via at least one user interface;
• receive, with the request to revoke, a particular reason associated with the request to revoke;
• and
• wherein outputting the number of requests to revoke the original message includes outputting a number of requests to revoke the original message associated with the particular reason.

A non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by an electronic processor, perform a set of functions, the set of functions configured to:

• store, for each of a plurality of forwarded messages sent via an electronic messaging application, a record in a data store, each of the plurality of forwarded messages resending an original message and each record including linking data identifying a previous message or the original message for the forwarded message;
• in response to receiving, for one of the plurality of forwarded messages, a request to revoke the one of the plurality of forwarded messages form a recipient of the one of the plurality of forwarded messages:
• determine an original message of the one of the plurality of forwarded messages using one or more data records in the data store and linking data included in the record for the one of the plurality of forwarded messages, and
• increment a counter associated with the original message tracking requests to revoke the original message;
• and
• output, based on a value of the counter for the original message, a number of requests to revoke the original message for display to a user via at least one user interface;
• wherein outputting the number of requests to revoke includes outputting a review request to an author of the original message, the review request including the number of requests to revoke and one or both of a number of times the original message has been forwarded and a number of recipients of the message and further comprising, in response to receiving a selection to revoke the original message based on the review request, identifying each forward of the original message based on the linking data included in one or more records of the data store and revoking the original message and each identified forward of the original message.