Here, Meng et al. investigated how interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) activation, a key signal mediator/transcriptional factor of the antiviral-sensing pathway, is regulated. They demonstrate that Mst1, a stress response kinase, represses cytosolic antiviral sensing and defense through the repression of RNA virus-induced activation of TBK1 and interference with the IRF3 homodimerization and chromatin binding via direct phosphorylation of IRF3 Thr253 and Thr75 residues.