This is pretty frustrating, clearly she said that she wanted her privacy respected, they even acknowledge that in the article, why did they publish her full name and a short description of her linkedin just to make it even easier to find her? What motivation did they have to do this?
But they hid the name of the software engineer that spoke on her credibility? Something seems a little off, either on the source's side or on the distributor's side.
It's really uncomfortable reading the part where they say that they aren't publishing personal information from the memo as if they're doing something to protect her privacy when they've given the internet way too much information on this person already. Things like the state of her mental health, some signal into her economic status, etc. Things that even non-devs on the internet could pick up on, it's so tone-deaf.
Reading it over more closely, the article doesn't exclude the possibility that the person who leaked the memo was actually Ms Zhang. The anonymous "other software engineer" might just be another source the authors know, or even a reference given by the "leaker".
The simplest answer is that journalism relies heavily on credibility and BuzzFeed's brand has almost none of that as far as the public is concerned. If this was the WaPo or NYT they could probably get away with the usual "We'd tell you but that would be unprofessional."
But they hid the name of the software engineer that spoke on her credibility? Something seems a little off, either on the source's side or on the distributor's side.