diff --git a/data.c b/data.c
index ae85aaf..a84cb8d 100644
--- a/data.c
+++ b/data.c
@@ -3279,7 +3279,7 @@ void enqueue_output_by_actor(snac *snac, const xs_dict *msg,
 void enqueue_email(const xs_dict *msg, int retries)
 /* enqueues an email message to be sent */
 {
-    xs *qmsg   = _new_qmsg("email", msg, retries);
+    xs *qmsg   = _new_qmsg("email", xs_dup(msg), retries);
     const char *ntid = xs_dict_get(qmsg, "ntid");
     xs *fn     = xs_fmt("%s/queue/%s.json", srv_basedir, ntid);