Google launched their ‘right to be forgotten’ tool on Friday morning and by the end of the day had received 12,000 requests from individuals asking to be “forgotten”. At some points the tech giant was receiving 20 requests a minute.

The ‘right to be forgotten’ form allows users to request the search engine removes links to obsolete information related to them.

The decision comes as a response to a European Court of Justice ruling that individuals have the right to have links to information about them removed from search engine results.

Google says it will handle each request individually.

"In implementing this decision, we will assess each individual request and attempt to balance the privacy rights of the individual with the public’s right to know and distribute information,” Google say regarding their handling of requests.