Why can't a string be nil in Go?

Question

The program available on The Go Playground reads

package main

import \"fmt\"

func main() {
    var name string = nil
    fmt.Println(name)
}

Answer 1

Because Golang string is a read-only slices of bytes.

However, a pointer to a string (*string) can be nil:

var s *string
s = nil
readonly := "readonly"
s = &readonly
dereference := *s

https://dhdersch.github.io/golang/2016/01/23/golang-when-to-use-string-pointers.html