Quality control is a problem with every product. Once you reach a certain point it just makes more financial sense to fix any issues when they're discovered and reported by the consumer rather than going over it with a microscope. Most consumers don't care about panel gaps.

Until someone completes and publishes a scientific study on the matter, and compares them to other OEMs, I'll continue to assume that these are just anecdotes from click-hungry publications that know anything to do with Tesla or Elon drives clicks, because everyone I know and every Tesla I've seen (with the exception of S/X) is totally fine.