Within hours of launching its search removal request form in the EU, Google was buried in applications asking that shady Web histories be expunged.

On day one, Google received 12,000 requests from across Europe, sometimes averaging 20 per minute, according to Reuters.

Part of a landmark "right to be forgotten" ruling against Google, the form was published Friday, at the demand of the Court of Justice of the European Union.

The online application allows residents of the EU's 28 member states to petition for certain links to be removed from the search engine's results.

Google did not immediately respond to PCMag's request for comment.

The case dates back to 1998, when a man attempted to have an article about his social security debts removed from a Spanish daily newspaper's online archives. In June 2013, Google won an appeal in the EU's high court, which found that search engines are not required to remove such links, provided that publication of the data is legal.

But that decision was overturned early last month, in what Google called "a disappointing ruling for search engines and online publishers in general."

More to the point, Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt said the European court made a mistake, that "the balance that was struck was wrong."

Still, the search giant has complied, last week publishing an "initial effort," with the promise of a more finalized request process "as soon as possible."

That rough-around-the-edges premise, however, hasn't stopped locals from making their requests, which require details like full name, home country, email address, and list of URLs to be removed. Applicants must also provide a valid form of photo ID, in an effort for Google to crack down on fraudulent removal requests.

The company has a long way to go, processing each of the 12,000-plus requests, and attempting to "balance the privacy rights of the individual with the public's right to know and distribute information," as Google explained.

Don't expect your petition to automatically result in a clean Web slate. Information about financial scams, professional malpractice, criminal convictions, or public content of government officials, for example, may not make the cut.

Following almost two decades of debate of the "right to be forgotten," Google CEO Larry Page told the Financial Times that the company has learned a vital lesson: "We're starting the process of really going and talking to people."

"We're trying now to be more European and think about it maybe more from a European context," Page said. "A very significant amount of time is going to be spent in Europe talking."