With federal lawmakers deadlocked over how to protect children online, states are aggressively taking matters into their own hands.

In a major development, the Supreme Court is allowing a sweeping new Texas law—which requires strict age verification and parental controls on app stores—to go into effect while ongoing legal challenges play out.

The App Store Accountability Act had previously been blocked by a lower-court judge who sided with tech giants, arguing that the state rules violated the First Amendment.

States like Utah and Alabama also have similar app store regulations, as digital safety advocates maintain that these laws are critical to shield kids from online harms. However, other experts warn of serious trade-offs.

Earlier this week on the FOX News Rundown, host Jessica Rosenthal spoke with Family Online Safety Institute Policy Director Andrew Zack to unpack the fierce debate surrounding state-level tech regulations.

He explained the real-world mechanics of age verification, why these current systems remain flawed, and what the tech industry must do to effectively protect younger users.

We often must cut interviews short during the week, but we thought you might like to hear the full interview.

Today on Fox News Rundown Extra, we will share our entire interview with Family Online Safety Institute Policy Director Andrew Zack.

And ... Don't forget to subscribe to the weekday Fox News Rundown podcast and leave a review!

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