Need Help: Halftone Effect Applies to Whole Text Box, Not Just Text Itself

Hey everyone,

I've been encountering a frustrating issue in Illustrator and could really use some guidance. I've been trying to apply a halftone effect specifically to text, but no matter what I do, the effect seems to apply to the entire bounding box of the text rather than just the text itself.

Here's a rundown of the steps I've tried:

1. Adding the text to my document.
2. Rasterizing the text.
3. Blurring the rasterized text.
4. Applying the halftone effect.

However, despite following these steps both through the dropdown menus and the Appearance panel, the halftone effect consistently applies to the entire box of text, not just the text itself.

I've checked my layer structure, tried expanding the text, and experimented with different settings in the halftone effect dialog, but I'm still stuck with the same issue.

Has anyone else encountered this problem before, or does anyone have any suggestions for troubleshooting? Any help would be greatly appreciated!