I don't think that reddit thread is the original source. Someone in the thread links to a larger-sized image which appears to be from https://funnyjunk.com/Cognitohazard/pxMTMck/.
EDIT: here's an even earlier source, from over a week ago (note: thread contains other strange but mostly safe for work images) http://boards.4channel.org/x/thread/22512161/cursed-image-th.... 512x512 seems like a more likely size for the image to have been generated at, at least.
EDIT 2: here's yet an earlier source, from March 10: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bu2IkGylneb/. Someone in the Twitter thread mentioned this as being the original source.
With a front page that has daily "Omg facebook is sharing your data", "you'll never guess what uber did now", "<random shit tech company> S-1", "let's all play armchair detectives and speculate why the 737 crashed", "shitcoin is good/bad for <whatever>", etc posts, I wouldn't exactly put HN that much above crappy content aggregator..
There are ads. The "<who cares> is hiring" ads, and I wouldn't be surprised if some content here that goes straight to the top isn't paid for somehow.. There's a large audience here, and no transparency in how the site operates, so the incentive is high.